Lightning but no thunder?

Question

There was a thunder storm last night in my town. I could see a fair amount of lightning very regularly with only seconds between strikes but there were only two moments where I noticed thunder the very first strike made an extreemly loud crack and a low rumble somewhere in the middle of the storm. Why was the no thunder after the other strikes?

Answer 1

This is often refered to as heat lightning which is a misnomer since it has nothing to do with heat, although you may observe it on a hot day.

It can be that the lightning is so far away that the sound doesn't reach you. That happens often at night when lightning is visible from a long distance. Or,

The lightning is between two clouds. That happens more often than one thinks. Again, because of the distance, it is not heard; only seen and mostly at night.

Answer 2

A lightning bolt passing through air heats the air so rapidly that it creates a rapidly expanding ionized plasma that sends off a shock wave as sound (thunder).  Lightning is trying to find the easiest path between differently charged areas.  That may be between ground and clouds (great length and perhaps 600,000 volts).  Lightning may also pass from cloud to cloud over shorter lengths and therefore with much less differential voltage and ionization.  Airplanes must have conducting straps across hinges so that if they initiate a bolt of lightning by completing the circuit passing between clouds, their movable hinges will not weld in a fixed position.  When you hear a sharp crack the lightning is nearby or you may be nearly equally distant from both ends of a long bolt and all the sound arrives at the same time.  If you are more in line with the bolt, the sound may be spread over five seconds if the far end is a mile away and you are near the near end.  If the bolts are distant and relatively weak (about five seconds per mile) the sound may not even reach you (perhaps it is heat lightning?).  Sound may also be diffracted away from you (above you) by changing density of the air masses.  Thunder may rumble because the lightning bolt is jagged (sound reaches you in sharp and soft reports depending how perpendicular you are to each segment) or has many branches.

Answer 3

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