Does lightning strike upwards?

Question

Does lightning strike upwards?

Answer 1

yes

it's just an electric discharge

Answer 2

Indeed it does! In fact, while cloud to cloud strikes are most common, next most common is ground to cloud.

HTH

Charles

Answer 3

Yes.  Watched that on Discovery Channel.

Answer 4

In cloud to ground lightning, it may seem that lightning strikes in a downward direction because of how quickly it happens, however, this is actually inaccurate.

By law, negative charges reside at the bottom of a storm cloud.

Positive charges reside at the top of a storm cloud.

If there is enough electrical energy within the storm cloud, a single negatively charged particle (electron) will emerge from the cloud and begin heading towards the ground. This is called a "stepped leader".

On the ground, positive charges begin building up below the stepped leader and since opposite charges attract each other, these positive charges begin heading up to meet the negative stepped leader.

When they connect to each other, a channel is established and more electrons begin flowing downward.

Next a "return stroke" of positive charges flow up this channel and create the bright flash we see as lightning. So yes, the flash we see as lightning goes from the ground up to the cloud.

*LIGHTNING INFO*

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/srh/jetstream/li...

http://www.srh.weather.gov/srh/jetstream...

http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/primer/lightnin...

http://www.wunderground.com/health/light...

http://www.lightningmaster.com/FAQ.htm

http://www.ucar.edu/communications/infop...

http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/0075...

http://www.ourbetternature.org/lightning...