Lightning

Compilation of lightning strikes in the Rocky Mountains.

As clouds grow, the ice particles within collide, fracture, break, and acquire charge. The larger particles are thought to gain more negative charge while the smaller particles acquire a more positive charge. Gravity, updrafts, and other influences separate the particles leaving the lower portion of the cloud more negatively charges and the upper portion with positively charge particles. Lightning is an electrical discharge from the enormous electrical potential between positively and negatively charge particles.

There are number of different types of lightnings. One of the best known, and most dangerous, is cloud-to-ground lightning; however, intra-cloud lightning is the most common type of discharge. The charge is usually restricted within the same cloud, but not always.

While fatalities by lightning are rare, life-long health concerns, including heart and lung damage, are more common. Lightning safety is important to know, especially if the hairs on your neck begin to stand on end. Always seek shelter during a storm, but if it is unavailable, crouch down into a ball with only your feet touching the ground (in other words, do not lie down).