What is a jet lightning?

Jets. Although jets are considered to be a type of upper-atmospheric lightning, it has been found that they are components of tropospheric lightning and a type of cloud-to-air discharge that initiates within a thunderstorm and travels upwards.

What causes jet lightning?

The blue jets occur when some positively charged upper part of any cloud interacts with a negatively charged layer present immediately above it. This then briefly equalizes both opposing charges which result in a bright blue discharge of static electricity. This is called blue lighting.

How does a blue jet lightning form?

According to Live Science, the current, albeit incomplete, understanding of blue jets suggests that they occur when the positively charged upper section of a cloud interacts with a negatively charged layer sitting just above the cloud, briefly equalizing the opposing charges in a bright blue discharge of static ...

What is upside down lightning called?

According to AccuWeather Senior Weather Editor Jesse Ferrell, the flashes are also called "ground to cloud" lightning strikes. "They are initiated at the top of an object, most often a man-made building or communications tower," he said.

Is blue lightning real?

When an unexpected event happens people describe it as a “bolt from the blue”. The phrase is actually based on real weather phenomena where a lightning bolt will strike an area with no overhead clouds. While bolts from the blue don't originate from blue sky, they occur infrequently, are unexpected, and can be deadly.

Fighter Jets - English Electric Lightning

What is the rarest lightning?

ball lightning, also called globe lightning, a rare aerial phenomenon in the form of a luminous sphere that is generally several centimetres in diameter. It usually occurs near the ground during thunderstorms, in close association with cloud-to-ground lightning.

What is the rarest color of lightning?

Green lightning is a rare phenomenon that can be seen during a thunderstorm. Someone who has seen green lightning is extremely lucky as green lightning strikes are rarely seen. It is so rare that the only photograph of a green lightning strike is one from when the Chaiten volcano in Chile erupted.

What is spark lightning?

A beautiful and deadly natural phenomenon, lightning is simply a sudden, electrostatic discharge - a 'spark' or 'flash' as charged regions in the atmosphere temporarily equalise themselves through this discharge.

Is there such a thing as heat lightning?

The term heat lightning is commonly used to describe lightning from a distant thunderstorm just too far away to see the actual cloud-to-ground flash or to hear the accompanying thunder.

Can lightning go from ground to cloud?

Does lightning strike from the sky down, or the ground up? The answer is both. Cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning comes from the sky down, but the part you see comes from the ground up.

What is a red sprite in the sky?

Sprites or red sprites are large-scale electrical discharges that occur high above thunderstorm clouds, or cumulonimbus, giving rise to a quite varied range of visual shapes flickering in the night sky. They are usually triggered by the discharges of positive lightning between an underlying thundercloud and the ground.

Is lightning in space possible?

Lightning as we know it in air cannot happen in vacuum because lightening depends crucially on the generation of positive ions and negative electrons by ionization of molecules of the air in high electric fields (and eventually high temperatures) and the ensuing impact ionization typical for a gas discharge.

Why is the lightning green?

Green lightning does indicate that the cloud is extremely tall, and because thunderclouds are the tallest clouds, green is a warning sign that large hail or a tornado is on the way. Green lightning has only been photographed once when the Chaiten volcano in Chile erupted. Spewing an ash cloud into the atmosphere.

What is dark lightning?

Dark lightning is a burst of gamma rays produced during thunderstorms by extremely fast moving electrons colliding with air molecules. Researchers refer to such a burst as a terrestrial gamma ray flash.

Is there lightning in a black hole?

An international group of researchers, with the participation of Astronomical Observatory of Universitat de València, has discovered the first lightning from a black hole from the eruption that had the most powerful bright variations in an extragalactic object ever observed until today.

What are elves lightning?

Elves are huge red halos that occur high in the atmosphere at around 100 km above active thunderstorms. They can be up to 400 km in diameter and last only about a millisecond. Surprisingly, the existence of elves was predicted before one was actually observed.

Is it OK to swim with heat lightning?

A: It is definitely NOT safe to swim when lightning is in the area in any type of water. Even if current lightning is a few miles away, lightning can pop up in new parts of the storm very quickly. Salt water conducts electricity, which means that it can easily travel through the water toward you.

Can lightning silent?

Silent lightning, otherwise known as heat lightning, is when lightning occurs but is not followed by the expected roll of thunder. When lightning is silent it is likely that it comes from a distant thunderstorm that is too far away for people to hear any noise.

Why is heat lightning quiet?

Why is heat lightning silent? Flashes of heat lightning are simply too far away for an observer to hear the accompanying thunder. These flashes are created by lightning bolts in thunderstorms that are more than ten miles away.

What are the 3 types of lightning?

There are three common types of lightning: cloud to ground, cloud to cloud and cloud to air. Cloud to ground lightning is the most dangerous. The ground is mainly consisted of positively charged particles while the bottom of violent storm clouds have negative charged particles.

What is lightning without thunder called?

Heat lightning, also known as silent lightning, summer lightning, or dry lightning (not to be confused with dry thunderstorms, which are also often called dry lightning), is a misnomer used for the faint flashes of lightning on the horizon or other clouds from distant thunderstorms that do not appear to have ...

What is blue lightning called?

Bolt from the Blue. Bolt from the Blue. A bolt from the blue (sometimes called 'anvil lightning' or 'anvil-to-ground' lightning) is a name given to a cloud-to-ground lightning discharge that strikes far away from its parent thunderstorm.

What is a Superbolt lightning?

“Superbolts” are the most powerful lightning on Earth, with discharges so strong that they cannot be reproduced in the laboratory. The bolts also display geographic and seasonal attributes opposite that of regular lightning, adding to their mystery.

What color is savitar's lightning?

Also, the armor is capable of changing the color of a speedster's lightning as the armor changed Savitar's lightning from yellow to white.

What is the hottest type of lightning?

White lightning is the hottest, and literally, all bolts radiate white color. They're an indication of a low concentration of moisture and dust in the air.