Whats the difference between a electrical thunder storm with no rain and a thunder storm with rain??

Question

Whats the difference between a electrical thunder storm with no rain and a thunder storm with rain??

Answer 1

That's probably the situation where the air is so dry that the precipitation evaporates before it hits the ground. Lightning occurs whether there is rain or not. It is dependent on nothing but instability of the atmosphere. Rainfall depends upon dryness of the air and the amount of moisture that is provided.

Answer 2

Sturm Vogel's gave you a very good answer, but I would like to add to his answer.  

Another factor that may play a factor is the height (above ground level) of base of the clouds.  If the rain cloud base is very high, the rain droplets would have to fall through a thicker layer of air.  In the west coast, during the late summer and early fall season, it is not unusual to see showers and thunderstorms forming over the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the afternoon.  These storm bases are sometime over 10000 feet above sea level.  When these thunderstorms drift off the crest and move over the foothills and valley, we will usually get dry lightning or thunderstorms without rain reaching the surface.

One other factor, although rare, would be to have very strong winds below the base of a thunderstorm.  The strong winds will shift the rain shaft away from the surface area right below the thunderstorm.