Lightning Without Thunder?

Question

I have seen this a few times - especially in Greece, where you get lightning but without thunder! Any clues?

Why would this happen - seen it mostly in Greece. Let me clarify. It was a warm evening. No rain, no wind (at ground level). The lightning was very close. My hearing is perfect, and yes it can happen. I remember science class - and that is why I am asking the question. I am aware of the difference in speed between lightning and thunder - and the lightning was very close. It happened last night. I live in East Yorkshire, and from my garden can see for a good 30 miles. The lightning was moving closer and was nearly on top of us in about an hour from it appearing on the horizon. Any thoughts?

Answer 1

It's called "heat lightning", and it's a form of lightning that comes without thunder.

The current theory is that you're seeing its reflection on distant clouds, rather than the lightning itself - and that lightning, typically on hot evenings, is too far away for the thunder to be heard.

I've also heard that sheet lightning, cloud to cloud, is sometimes too high up to generate much noise either.

Once, back home, we had thunder without lightning, constantly rolling and booming without end, for three hours straight.

Source(s):

http://ca.encarta.msn.com/dictionary_186...

Answer 2

You cannot have thunder without lightening or vice versa.

Thunder is the sound of the air being torn apart by the lightening as it tries to hit the ground at the speed of light.

If you can remember being at school doing the science experiment with the van der graph(?) generator. You know the two chrome domes that made your hair stand on end.
When the two domes touched and were discharged there was a spark and a small click.
Lightening is the spark and thunder is the click, just scaled up thousands of times.

If you see lightening then there IS thunder. It just may be that you cannot hear it because of several factors. Distance is the most obvious one, but thunder is pretty loud so it would have to be quite far away. There is a high chance of wind and rain as well. Both of these will dull the sound of thunder.
A combination of background noise and everything else could make it very difficult to hear a dull low rumbling noise and so it is believable that you could think there is lightening without thunder, but in reality, you just can't hear it.

Answer 3

Last night we had lightning for about an hour before the thunder started . I was told as a kid that if you count the seconds between the thunder and lightning it tells you how far away the lightning is. Doubt it's true now ...... sad really, a childhood myth destroyed in 1 night !

Answer 4

I remember it being called harvest lightning in the UK, because when it occurs (which is rare) it is around August/September time. I saw it in the UK once about 1970.

I lived in Venezuela for a few years, and there it is a common occurrence in hot low-lying areas. During late afternoon, because the sunlight is still intense, it is not visible - you only know it is happening if you are listening to the radio, and hear the regular crackling. At night you clearly observe it inaudibly striking down to the ground like a silent assassin.

To the south of Lake Maracaibo, in the west of Venezuela, there is a regular silent lightning phenomenon which has quite specific causes (involving low pressure air masses occurring over marshland). It happens all year round (for between 140 and 160 nights a year) with arcs of lightning over 5 kms high, happening for 10 hours a night, and as many as 280 times an hour. This is supposed to be unique - nowhere else in the world does this happen. It is called "catatumbo lighting" (relampago del catatumbo). Apparently it is the biggest single regenerator of the planet's ozone layer. There are various internet articles about it, and here is one of the better ones, with some explanation of the phenomenon (http://ins.onlinedemocracy.ca/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1467).

Hope this is of interest.

Answer 5

this happened last night here in south Yorkshire at first i thought it was my flood light playing up but it wasn't. Then i saw a bloody hedgehog on my patio i am glad i didn't open the door, anyway it was really hot last night so i think this has something to do with it hang on there was thunder but it was really quiet yes i thought it was the TV sorry i couldn't be much more help. Actually isn't it when the hot air mixes with the cold air hence thunder then the force equal lightning

Answer 6

well the work together i reckon.. lightning and thunder work hand in hand...

but u know light travels much faster and further than sound.. so u might be too far away to hear the thunder roar!!..

this difference in speed also explains why u most times u see the lightning flash then a few seconds later u hear the thunder..

Answer 7

It happens all the time where I live. There was one time there was a bad lightning storm and only half of the lightning had thunder. Kinda reminds me of the War of the Worlds movie.

Answer 8

The lightning is too far away for the thunder to be audible. This is particularly true in a noisy environment like a city.

Answer 9

It's called "heat lightning", and it's a form of lightning that comes without thunder.

The current theory is that you're seeing its reflection on distant clouds, rather than the lightning itself - and that lightning, typically on hot evenings, is too far away for the thunder to be heard.

I've also heard that sheet lightning, cloud to cloud, is sometimes too high up to generate much noise either.

Once, back home, we had thunder without lightning, constantly rolling and booming without end, for three hours straight.

Answer 10

It's called heat lightning (or summer lightning) and it's not that uncommon. The thunderstorm is simply too far away, so you can't hear the sound.