Heat lightening?

Question

why is it that you can hear the sound of lightening(which is thunder) in a regular storm, but you can't hear any noise on a hot summer night when there is heat lightening? Shouldn't it thunder too?

Answer 1

Heat lightning is a myth.  What you're seeing is the flash of very distant thunderstorms, so far away that the sound dissapates before it can get to you.

Answer 2

There is no such thing as heat lightning. You can not hear the thunder because it was too far away. People have the misconception and call it "heat lightning" because it occurs most often in the summer.   All that you are seeing is lightning miles away.  At night in the open you can see lightning for hundreds of miles away from the storm.

Answer 3

It's all "heat lightning."  You are seeing lightning in the distance but it's too far away for you to hear the thunder.  A storm at night directly over your area is going to have flashes of lightning and thunder, but far away, people are just going to see the lighting in the clouds.

Answer 4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_lightn...

check it out