Does lightning usually or always come with thunder?

Question

I know we can have thunder without lightning...but, can lightning strike without thunder?

Answer 1

Lightning can reach temperatures of over 1000 degrees F. That blast of heat expands air rapidly. There will always be thunder around a lightning bolt.
The only way there is thunder without lightning is because the lightning is hidden in some cloud.

Answer 2

Lightning usually comes with thunder. There have been reports (and I've seen it myself here in Austin) of lightning without thunder. Smarter people can tell what's up right away, and we know that the lightning is what's driving the storm, not the other way around. Lightning almost always creates thunderstorms and comes out of clouds because the moisture allows the lightning to move through the air more easily.

But as "bolts from the blue" show us, lightning doesn't need clouds to exist, or even bad weather. So where does the energy comes from then? Space! Read up on elves and sprites, the Sun is literally glowing with electric energy. The electromagnetic force is what causes galaxies to spin on their axis, and what prevents them from flying apart.

Answer 3

Lightning and thunder are always connected.

However, sometimes you only hear the thunder because the lightning is hidden behind something (for example high buildings or a forest or inside a big dense cloud), and sometimes you only see the lightning because the thunderstorm is so far away you can't hear the thunder.

Answer 4

Sound is energy waves traveling through air. If you push a bunch of electrons through the air at an incredible speed then sound in the form of thunder is inedible.
If you see a lightning flash and don't hear thunder then it probably happened too far away. By the time the thunder gets to you the sound weakened enough for you not to hear it. Other sounds such as rain hitting the ground would be enough to mask the sound also after a certain distance.

Answer 5

I think you have it backwords. Thunder is caused by lightning.

If you hear thunder, their was lightning somewhere. It may be possible for lightning to strike in such a way that no significant air-disturbance hence thunder is created.

I believe that you might could have lightning that didn't make audible thunder, but you can't have thunder, without some lightning somewhere to cause it.

Answer 6

Lightning creates thunder. I don't think there can be one without the other... You may hear thunder without seeing the lightning, and you may see lightning without hearing the thunder, but they both happen every time.

Answer 7

Good question...

I know that lightning can travel vast distances and has been know to land miles from storm cloud, and out under blue sky... and the distance from the storm may be blocked or faded after such a great distance. But the real answer is no...

Thunder is often the by product of static discharge in the clouds, and it is this static discharge that does cause lightning.

Answer 8

Yes!!!
And I'm sitting here now watching the lightning fork across the sky, but the sound of thunder has yet to be heard! we have all these crazy storm cells around but no thunder.(wind, yes, lightning, yes, thunder, nope!)

If I'm lying may lightning strike me now! :) OUCH!

Seriously, there is no thunder.

Answer 9

Uh , thunder is caused by lightning, end of story, you can NOT have one without the other

Answer 10

thunder is the result of lightning. Thunder is the sonic boom you hear from lightning severly heating up the air around it. Where there is thunder... there is lightning.