surreal 1221 - weather question

M

meritflyer

Well-Known Member
Tonite in Phoenix there is a broken layer of stratocumulus clouds. No real convective activity or T-storms. But, there is lightning from cloud to cloud. I thought that lightning was really only associated with T-storms.

Any thoughts?
 
Was there any TS in the area?

Looking at a LTG shot from this time (3am ET), looks like there is some LTG out across ERN AZ. You're seeing the light travel through the water droplets, if that makes any sense.

Think high beams through fog at night.
 
meritflyer said:
Doesnt LTG have to be associated with T-storms though? If not, what explains such an occurence?
Click to expand...

Yes, and it is associated with thunderstorms in this case (always will be). It's just that you can't actually see the thunderstorms, or hear the thunder for that matter, all you can see is the light being scattered through the water droplets of clouds around you.
 
There doesn't have to be thunderstorms for there to be lightning and thunder. I was outside shoveling my driveway during a heavy snowstorm once and heard thunder.
 
Van_Hoolio said:
There doesn't have to be thunderstorms for there to be lightning and thunder. I was outside shoveling my driveway during a heavy snowstorm once and heard thunder.
Click to expand...


... re-read that and make sense.

:)

Anything with LTG or thunder, is a thunderstorm. . . no matter if it is encoded TSRA or TSSN. If you heard thunder, you're hearing it from a thunderstorm. :)
 
What about lightning in volcanic eruptions or thick smoke plumes over a forest fire? I have personally seen here in FL CTG lightning when the tops were around 8k and building slowly and there wasn't a TS within 100 miles. Left my instructor and I scratching our heads because we both thought lightning was only associated with thunderstorms.
 
timeoff said:
What about lightning in volcanic eruptions or thick smoke plumes over a forest fire? I have personally seen here in FL CTG lightning when the tops were around 8k and building slowly and there wasn't a TS within 100 miles. Left my instructor and I scratching our heads because we both thought lightning was only associated with thunderstorms.
Click to expand...

That's a new one to me.

All that is needed is a change in charge from the sky to the ground, so I suppose. . . theoretically, it could happen. :confused:
 
It scared the crap out of us too because the Arrow doesn't have static wicks on the wings (well at least this one didn't), only on the stabilator. Saw two discharges and that was all we needed to call up approach and get our butts back in. Had it up to 150knts on the GPS all the way to the downwind :)

I checked the radar after we landed and there wasn't a single echo in the whole state. Still makes me wonder what caused it.
 
Today is a good day - I learned something new. :)

From Encyclopedia Brittanica:
Lightning is usually associated with cumulonimbus clouds (thunderclouds), but it also occurs in stratiform clouds (layered clouds with a large horizontal extent), in snowstorms and dust storms, and sometimes in the dust and gases emitted by erupting volcanoes. During a thunderstorm, lightning can occur within the cloud, between clouds, between the cloud and the air, or between the cloud and the ground.
Click to expand...
 
This discussion reminds me of a lewis black bit....

I was in Boston, Massachusettes, and in four days I experienced five seasons. It was 30, it was 60, it was 90, then it was 12, on the last day there was thunder, there was lightning, and there was snow.. TOGETHER! And I hadn't done drugs, cause when you're lyin' in bed and you hear thunder outside, and you get up to look, you have an expectation. And it's not snow, with lightning behind it. That's ####ed up. They don't even write about that weather... in the Bible. I imagine if a Prophet had seen that kind of crap, after he wiped the poop out of his pants, he'd a told us about it!
Lewis is one of the best comedians out there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top