Does lighting strike upwards from the ground or down from the clouds?

Question

Does lighting strike upwards from the ground or down from the clouds?

Answer 1

A typical  lightning strike between the ground and negatively-charged thunderstorm base often goes from the cloud base, to the ground, then back up again. This is called a FORWARD STROKE, and RETURN STROKE, and may actually repeat several times until the charge fields are below the threshold for a discharge. That is why lightning usually "flickers" where it seems to flash several times with the same bolt.

Answer 2

Lightning strikes the ground from the sky then bounces up back to the sky.

Answer 3

it comes from the sky but for some reason the charge in lighting wants to reach the ground.. that is its goal. It does so when it strikes someone. It enters through their body and down through their feet to the earth, which is often why lightning victims are almost always left with burn marks on the bottom of their feet.

Answer 4

both, mainly down

Answer 5

from the clouds

Answer 6

Both but mostly upwards and sometimes upwards from clouds.

http://sky-fire.tv/index.cgi/spritesblue...

Answer 7

Lightning between clouds and ground is almost all cloud to ground. Sometimes short streamers can come up from the ground to meet the lightning from the clouds.

http://photography.nationalgeographic.co...

Answer 8

A leader comes up around 5 - 50 (roughly) feet from the ground..as a grounding point and the lightning strike grounds out at the leader and into the earth...

Answer 9

It comes from the clouds bouces off the ground and goes right back up.

Answer 10

Upwards, from the ground.