Ever seen non stop lightning?

I have no idea what causes this, but its pretty amazing to watch.
There is no thunder to accompany the lightening, and this apparently went on for about an hour.

Can anyone explain how or why this happens? A tornado was 30 miles away, i dont know if this has anything to do with this weird lightening storm




Ok, after a bit of looking online this could be Intra-Cloud lightening

Lightning discharges may occur between areas of cloud without contacting the ground. When it occurs between two separate clouds it is known as inter-cloud lightning, and when it occurs between areas of differing electric potential within a single cloud it is known as intra-cloud lightning.

Intra-cloud lightning is the most frequently occurring type.[43] Intra-cloud lightning most commonly occurs between the upper anvil portion and lower reaches of a given thunderstorm. This lightning can sometimes be observed at great distances at night as so-called "heat lightning". In such instances, the observer may see only a flash of light without hearing any thunder.
The "heat" portion of the term is a folk association between locally experienced warmth and the distant lightning flashes. Another terminology used for cloud–cloud or cloud–cloud–ground lightning is "Anvil Crawler", due to the habit of the charge typically originating from beneath or within the anvil and scrambling through the upper cloud layers of a thunderstorm, normally generating multiple branch strokes which are dramatic to witness.
These are usually seen as a thunderstorm passes over the observer or begins to decay. The most vivid crawler behavior occurs in well developed thunderstorms that feature extensive rear anvil shearing.

Is that like heat lightning. That is what many call it up here. It shoots between the clouds and seems not to make much noise. I think it does but it is so steady that the small sound fills the air and we hardly notice it because the frequency is below our hearing threshold. That would be my guess why there is no sound.

reply to post by AmberLeaf


Indeed I have.
In fact it was even MORE intense that the video you posted.

It was a number of years ago now (about 8).

I live in the subtropics, obviously when you have a storm like this going on one of the first things you do is run around the house turning everything electrical off.

What I found amazing was that I was able to read a book by the light from the storm, the flashes were happening so frequently that the stroboscopic effect disappeared and it was as if there was a constant light coming through the windows.

I have never since experienced such a storm. and we get a LOT of storms here.
Definitely a once in a lifetime experience indelibly printed in my memory.

reply to post by rickymouse


Yea i think thats what its called or intra cloud lightening
Ive never seen it before, its strange to see something like that, that has no sound. The only time i have seen lightening its always accompanied by thunder or a cracking sound.

reply to post by AmberLeaf


I've seen this kind of activity before. It's pretty cool as far as I'm concerned.

But almost everytime time I'm watching something like this, one does reach out to the ground in my vicinity causing me to jump outta my skin.

You can never be ready for those moments.

reply to post by AmberLeaf


Great video , it would of been great to watch but check out Catutumbo lightning on lake Maricibo in Venezuela. Have been meaning to go, but haven't got around to it yet. Maybe later this year

More than 40,000 bolts ripped across the night sky as many as 300 nights a year for nine hours at a time. It occurred so frequently that the phenomenon became known as "Relampago de Catatumbo," or "Catatumbo Lightning."

abcnews.go.com...

It did disappear but now has reappeared again. Mother nature is pretty good at giving us a show.

Sorry if I am detracting a bit from the op, but I feel it is related so thought I would share..

reply to post by AmberLeaf


Yup.

I was in Kuwait in 2003 waiting to go home, and there was an electrical storm, lightning no rain. And it was just going across the sky non-stop for hours.

One of the coolest things I have ever seen.

I saw something similar in 1984 in mexico.

Not as intense but lightening flashes down to one per second before rain hit.

Awesome to watch, was only a short distance from one strike in a field but I was on a parked bus at the time otherwise I may have been zapped?

nature is awesome, no matter how destructive it is.

I love tsunamis, earthquakes, tornadoes etc. Never been or seen a decent tsunami with my own eyes though.

reply to post by AmberLeaf


That's really kind of eerie! I've never seen so much lightning not accompanied by thunder.

The weirdest lightning I've ever seen is lighting during a snow storm. What's weird about that is, I've lived up north my entire life (for over 50 yrs). I've never ever seen lightning or heard thunder during winter snow storms throughout those years. This weird phenomenon only started happening in the last 3 years or so. It really makes you wonder what is going on with the weather lately.

reply to post by maythetruthbeknown


That is crazy!! Thanks for sharing

Here in England we dont really get much wild weather, a bit of rain and some thunderstorms is about all we ever get, which i cannot really complain about lol. Its amazing how varied the weather can be around the world, especially stuff like this.

I bet those people have a nightmare sleeping lol, you couldnt be epileptic and live in a place like that lol

reply to post by AmberLeaf


Well we did have a hurricane once. in England..........Wow.....Yeah ..UK has a relativity tame extreme weather record. There are a few exceptions of course.

Yeah may not be good for epeleptics ,but would make a good place for a rave lol

We call it heat lightning here in Florida. We see it all the time, so not really a thing for us, but we realize it is pretty strange elsewhere. Of course, here, it can be raining on one side of the street, and sunny on the other (I've seen it on many occasions)....so not too surprising.

A tornado is indicative of a strong updraft in the storm. Tornadoes usually happen when you have a rather strong updraft, and sufficiently strong wind shear. With all these ingredients, you are likely to get lightning occur more often than in a normal thunderstorm.

Strong updrafts, and large amounts of moisture can cause lightning to be seen almost non-stop, as you have a large amount of ice crystals due to all the moisture, and the strong updraft permitting the thunderstorm to grow larger (which creates more ice crystals) by suspending the rain and ice crystals aloft for a greater amount of time, which means the thunderstorm won't rain out and the downdraft won't kill the updraft and warm air inflow.

Hope I helped.