what is white lightning? I've heard about this on our local weather report but they don't say what it is
341077
I believe they are refering to sheet lightning that never touches the ground. In the tropics it can be extremely brilliant lighting up the sky like a neon glow.
1070155
Sheet lightning can be seen when lightning is close to the horizon. The individual strikes can't be seen, but simply light up the distant cloud.
1125383
Here is a link that will give you information on Ball Lightning:\n\nhttp://www.amasci.com/tesla/ballgtn.html\n\nAlso, go to Google...look under Images only...type in Ball Lightning...and you will see lots of pictures regarding Ball Lightning.  \n\nI hope this helps.
589126
the flash of electricity is lightning... the sound that follow is thunder... storm usually occurs when lightning, thunder, strong wind and rain happen at the same time...
653251
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/resources/askjack/2003-05-06-lightning-airplanes_x.htm
923031
very, i lost everything in my computer once because of lightning. if you're sure to unplug your computer whenever theres a storm coming, you should be alright
375503
Space.  No kidding.  Sprites and Elves show us that the energy is coming from way up in the ionosphere, which is the outer boundary of the Earth's electric field.  Unfortunately, all the scientists we have nowadays are stupid or the satellites have been hijacked by someone who doesn't want us to know what causes lightning. Either way, it's not official yet.  But with all the crazy weather we've been getting nowadays and with all the awesome thunderstorms that cause hundreds of thousands of cloud to ground strikes, it shouldn't be too long before somebody realizes all this energy has to be coming from somewhere other than the clouds themselves.
427596
Yep, you're right -- the west coast of Africa. Florida is the lightning capital of the U.S.\n\nhttp://experts.about.com/q/Meteorology-Weather-668/lightening.htm
404054
Yes. Anywhere that there is lightning there is a possibillity for red lighting. Red lightning is caused by, lighting traveling from cloud to cloud. The clouds then distort the color.
1088763
A lot of static electricity in the air can cause "dry lightning".  I assume that is what happened.
861786
Call newschannel 3, I bet they would look into it.  Royal Norman may even already have an answer.  I have not seen them, though I live very close to you.  I'll have to keep my eye on the SE sky.  Do they occur at a certain time, or various times?  Are they low to the horizon?
1088869
Lightning happens because of static electricity.  If you've ever gotten a little spark when you touched a doorknob or something metal, that's static electricity.  It happens because electrons (which make electricity) are "gathered up" in some materials when they are rubbed.  When your feet rub on a carpet, electrons from the carpet get picked up by your feet.  Then when you touch a doorknob or something metal, the electrons jump across to the doorknob, making a tiny spark.\n\nLightning is exactly the same thing, but much bigger.  The water in the clouds "rub" against the air, gathering electrons, until finally a huge spark leaps from the clouds to the ground.\n\nThunder happens right after lightning.  It happens because the lightning is so hot that it heats the air around it, making it expand.  Once the lightning is gone, the air rushes back in with a huge "bang" like giant clapping hands.\n\nThunder can be scary because it's so loud and unexpected.  But since thunder always follows lightning, here's what you can do:  When you see a flash of lightning, start counting, "one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi, three-Mississippi..." and so on until you hear the thunder.  Each "Mississippi" is about one second, and because of the speed of sound each second you count means that the lightning is about one-fifth of a mile away.  So if you can count to "five-Mississippi" before you hear the thunder, that means that the lightning is a mile away.  Knowing that it's that far away makes it not so bad.\n\nI think lightning is pretty neat to watch.  I used to live in the New Mexico desert, and when we had a thunderstorm you could see the lightning branching down from the clouds.  That's a little more interesting than just a bright flash of light.\n\nI hope that knowing more about lightning and thunder will help make it less scary for you.  Try looking up "lightning" on Google, look at some pictures and see how interesting lightning really is.
222480
Thundersnow is a particularly rare meteorological phenomenon that includes the typical behavior of a thunderstorm, but with snow falling as the primary precipitation instead of rain.\n\nThere are usually two forms of thundersnow:\n\nA normal thunderstorm on the leading edge of a cold front that passes over a colder body of water (with subsequently colder air around it) which in turn maintains the precipitation as snow. \nA heavy snowstorm that catches a warm draft of air which allows favorable conditions for lightning and thunder to occur. \nOne unique aspect of thundersnow is that the snowfall acts as an acoustic suppressor of the thunder. The thunder from a typical thunderstorm can be heard many kilometres away, while the thunder from thundersnow can usually only be heard within a two to three kilometer radius from the lightning.\n\nThundersnow, while rare anywhere, is more common with lake-effect snows in the Great Lakes area of the United States and Canada, the midwestern U.S., the Great Salt Lake, and has also been reported around the Sea of Japan and even around Mount Everest during expeditions. When such storms happen at ski areas, the mountain is often evacuated for safety.\n\nThundersnow was reported in metro Atlanta during the Great Blizzard of 1993, and in greater New York (and other areas) during the Blizzard of 2006. During a thundersnow event in late March 1997, lightning struck the main ski lift at the Angelfire Resort in Angelfire, New Mexico after closing time. This caused no injuries, but damaged the only lift providing access to and from the operating part of the mountain. Large snow pellets were also reported from this storm.
1103799
Lightning Crashes\n\nLyrics here:  \nwww.lyricsdomain.com/12/live/lightning_crashes.html
98380
.   There is something called ball lightning. It drifts slowly along and can release its energy by exploding. I read that it had been reproduced in the lab using super high voltage generators.\n.    The light from a lightning bolt travels at the speed of light but the lightning bolt travels much slower. A lightning bolt consists of ionized atoms physically moveing through the air from the cloud toward the ground and a charge comeing up from the ground to meet it. I believe the whole process takes one hundreth of a second.
337741
After a thunderstorm, there is a distinct smell associated w/ ozone created by lightning. Could be that.\n\n:)
224271
Hello,\nLightening is caused due to the build up of electrons in the upper layers of the clouds during a storm. These electrons are attracted towards the positive potential of the earth, but the air gives a stiff resistance and does not allow the electricity to pass through. But when a huge potential has been accumulated, the electricity forces its way through the air molecules. This causes a lot of friction and hence releases heat energy. A tremendous amount of heat energy. This causes the air molecules to vibrate and this produces the cracking sound known as thunder. Thunder rattles the windows if it is loud enough. Sound is just the air particles vibrating and when the vibrating air molecules hit the window, they cause it to rattle. Lightning usually strikes the highest point and the most positively charged area. This is becuz lightning looks for the easiest way out of air. A high place means it has to travel less distance...