What kind of lightning is dangerous? (2023)

Which type of lightning is more dangerous?

Positive lightning makes up less than 5% of all strikes. However, despite a significantly lower rate of occurrence, positive lightning is particularly dangerous for several reasons. Since it originates in the upper levels of a storm, the amount of air it must burn through to reach the ground is usually much greater.

Cloud to Cloud: Lightning that occurs between two or more separate clouds. Cloud to Ground: Lightning that occurs between the cloud and the ground. Cloud to Air: Lightning that occurs when the air around a positively charged cloud top reaches out to the negatively charged air around it.

Red lightning within a cloud indicates the presence of rain. Yellow or orange lightning occurs when there is a large concentration of dust in the air. White lightning is a sign of low humidity or a little amount of moisture in the air. White is the color of lightning that most often ignites forest fires.

White: most powerful lightning color

White is the most dangerous color of lighting. It suggests both a low concentration of moisture and a high concentration of dust in air. We all are aware that being hit by lightning can have serious consequences.

A recent analysis from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) found that a single flash of lightning along the northern Gulf Coast spanned 477 miles across, breaking a world record. This megaflash of lightning lit up an area stretching from Texas to Mississippi.

Weather.gov > Safety > How Powerful Is Lightning? A typical lightning flash is about 300 million Volts and about 30,000 Amps. In comparison, household current is 120 Volts and 15 Amps.

In addition, ground current can travel in garage floors with conductive materials. Because the ground current affects a much larger area than the other causes of lightning casualties, the ground current causes the most lightning deaths and injuries. Ground current also kills many farm animals.

The risk of being struck by lightning is low, but the consequences of being struck by lightning are serious. From 2006 through 2021, 444 people in the United States died from lightning strikes.

Can anyone survive lightning?

Although the vast majority of lightning strike victims survive, the effects can be serious and long-lasting. Survivors have experienced debilitating injuries, burns and ongoing disability, including symptoms like seizures and memory loss.

Because positive lightning must traverse a much greater distance through the air than negative lightning, it tends to be about five times more powerful. It can have more than double the volts and 10 times the amps of negative lightning. The bolts are also hotter and can last 10 times longer than negative lightning.

Fork lightning can travel cloud to ground, ground to cloud, or cloud to cloud, and it is the most spectacular of all. It is also the most destructive type of lightning.

Other than distance from an observer, there is no difference between the two. “Heat lightning” is lightning generated by a thunderstorm so distant that its light has outrun the much slower moving and more easily disrupted sound waves from the storm.

When lightning strikes the ground or an object on the ground, the discharge occurs in and along the ground surface (not deep into the ground). This creates a dangerous and potentially deadly ground current near the lightning strike. Ground current is responsible for killing many farm animals on a yearly basis.