Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Is there such a thing as "heat lightning" without a storm?

+2
−0

Sometimes on a hot, humid day, we see lightning off in the distance. If we're out on a trail or camping in the evening, it's even brighter. It seems to be traveling in almost a sideways motion. We don't see it hit the ground. We don't hear thunder, and it doesn't rain.

I've been told this lightning is just happening because of the temperature and humidity, and possibly a cold front coming through, but there's no storm attached. They call it “heat lightning.” Is that a real thing?

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/q/23048. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

0 comment threads

1 answer

+1
−0

Heat lightning is a myth.

It's normal lighting from a far-away thunderstorm. Lightning is visible 30–50 miles (48–80 km), or up to 100 miles (160 km) over perfectly flat terrain. Thunder is only audible from about 10-15 miles away. So when a storm is more than 15 miles away, but less than 50-100 miles away, you get silent lightning.

The term "heat lightning" comes from the incorrect idea that summer heat somehow causes silent lightning. You're not alone - I picked up this idea when I was a child, and never learned any different until today. I had also heard of "heat thunder," which is supposedly thunder caused by heat, without any lightning or rain. (It's actually just thunder from a storm that hasn't hit yet, but as a child this made a good excuse to stay outside and keep playing until the last possible minute.)

Sources:

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/23050. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »