All About Lightning

On stormy days, you should probably expect lightning. But what is lightning? You’re about to find out...
Lightning is a naturally occuring electrical discharge (the sudden flow of electricity) that happens when two electrically charged regions in the atmosphere temporarily equallise themselves, causing the instant result of, well, lightning!

When you get struck by lightning, you won’t nessccesarily die straight away. There was one man who was struck by lightning 7 times and still survived!

Thunder is the sound of lightning. They happen at the same time, but depending on how far away you are, the thunder might sound like it happens after the lightning.

Lightning is a bright flash of electricity produced by a thunderstorm. All thunderstorms produce lightning and are very dangerous. If you hear the sound of thunder, then you are in danger from lightning.

Lightning kills and injures more people each year than hurricanes or tornadoes; between 75 to 100 people. That’s even more than the Coronavirus!

Within a thundercloud way up in the sky, many small bits of ice (frozen raindrops) bump into each other as they move around in the air. All of those collisions create an electric charge. After a while, the whole cloud fills up with electrical charges.