![]() You'll want to be as low to the ground as possible. Instead, seek out the lowest spot like a ditch or depression. While this may help you keep dry, it will make you more vulnerable to lightning strikes. If you are stuck outside away from safe shelter, do not go under tall, isolated trees or partially enclosed structures. No place outside provides safe shelter from a storm. If you cannot go indoors when a storm approaches, you can shelter in a hard-topped vehicle, according to the weather service. Always head indoors when you hear thunder. After seeking shelter from a storm, you should stay indoors until the storm has passed and you can no longer hear thunder. If you are close enough to a storm to hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning. Lightning is dangerous, killing an average of 47 people per year, the weather service reports. If you're the type of person who enjoys a good thunderstorm, what we think of as heat lightning is an opportunity to experience the power and beauty of Mother Nature's fury at a safe distance. But always heed this advice: When thunder roars, go indoors. That means plenty of storms that pass to the north and south of Will County will be visible to us, but we will never experience the rain or thunder that accompanies them. At night, this effect is compounded by the fact that lightning is more visible when it is dark.Īt night, you may be able to see lightning from as far as 100 miles away from the storm, but thunder is typically only heard within 10 miles to 15 miles of a storm, The Weather Channel reports. Light travels farther than sound, so you can see lightning from a thunderstorm from farther away than you can hear the thunder. However, because of differences in how fast light and sound travel and how sound is absorbed by the surrounding terrain we don't always experience them together. Both occur as the result of rapid expansion of masses of hot and cold air. Lightning can't exist without thunder - thunder is the sound lightning makes. Many people are under the false impression that high heat and humidity can cause lightning, but this isn't the case, according to the National Weather Service. In reality, what you may think is heat lightning is really just lightning from a thunderstorm that is too far away for you to experience its other effects - no rain, no wind, no thunder, just the sight of lightning off in the distance. What is often referred to as heat lightning is a commonly misunderstood weather phenomenon. In fact, heat lightning doesn't even exist. However, the light from the strike can be seen up to 100 miles from the parent thunderstorm! Pretty amazing stuff.The lightning you saw off in the distance last night or last week or last month wasn't heat lightning. But in general, if you are more than 10 - 15 miles away from a bolt of lightning, you probably won't hear the thunder. ![]() ![]() For example, sound waves move slower and travel less distance in cooler, denser air, and propagate faster in warmer air. The exact distance thunder can travel is tough to pinpoint as temperature can affect how far it can be heard. This is because sound waves disspate as they travel through the atmosphere. Just how far away? Far enough that you cannot hear thunder. ![]() While this theory is commonplace, it is completely false, and there is really no such thing as “heat lightning." the truth behind this myth is that we are actually seeing flashes of light reflecting off of clouds from lightning in a distant thunderstorm. The typical theory is that hot and humid conditions produce lightning, even without rain or thunder, causing the night sky to light up. Many have probably heard the term “heat lightning” tossed around from time to time throughout the summer. ![]()
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