How can you tell how close lightning strikes?

Question

Everyone thinks that the one, one-thousand, two, one thousand thing gauges miles but a few years ago, on The Weather Channel, they told the real way. It was like...a mile for every 3 seconds or 5 miles for every 3. Who can help me out?

Answer 1

Use the flash-to-bang method. Since sound travels at 1/5 of a mile per second, just count the number of seconds it takes before you hear thunder. Divide that number by 5 to obtain the number of miles the lightning strike was from you.

Answer 2

Every five secs is a mile

Answer 3

Count the seconds, then divide by 3 to get the approximate number of kilometres.

Answer 4

Sound Travels @ 1000 Ft per Second..

1 1Thousand

2 1 Thousand

Is 2 Thousand Ft away

Answer 5

Five seconds per mile

Sound travels pretty slowly in air.

At 68 deg F, the speed of sound in dry air is 1129 ft/sec, which comes out to about 4.7 seconds per mile

Answer 6

look in the sky of how close it is and then listen to how loud the sound is

Answer 7

Here is an answer from weather.com - http://www.weather.com/ready/lightning/r... - it says count the seconds after lightning and divide by 5.

Answer 8

Try 1000 ft per second is the speed of sound.