Why doesn't it rain during a lightning storm?

Question

I've seen storms where it's just lightning and thunder going on for ages, but no rain. Why doesn't it rain as well?
Or, why are there some storms where there is lightning, rain, and thunder and some where there is just lightning and thunder?

Answer 1

Rain and lightning are two different things and are created by two different causes.

Lightning is actually a charge built up in the surface of the earth that wants to discharge. Clouds are made of water and dust and when you rub dust together you create friction and static electricity. The same static electricity that you can get from a shock in the rug by touching a doorknob is the same static electricity that makes up lightning.

A charge builds up in the cloud and if it is raining or not that charge is there. Sometimes the charge can be there without rain. If that happens then the lightning occurs without any rain.

Large forest fires actually create their own weather systems. The smoke creates clouds, the hot fire creates air movement and this creates friction and static electricity. It is common for a large forest fire to create a dry lightning storm. When this happens the dry lightning storm can cause new fires. This is one major and well known risk of forest fires.

Rain happens when the air can’t hold the water vapor any more. This happens when a cold mass of air hits a wet hot mass of air. Hot air can hold more water vapor than cold air. When warm air hits cold air, it cools and so it can’t hold all the water vapor it has therefore it rains. This is why showers are most common along cold weather fronts.

Answer 2

Well, the mechanisms for creating rain and creating lightning are separate, they just both occur in dense cloud formations. In order for rain to form, water has to simply condense into droplets large enough to fall by having considerable numbers of small proto-droplets collect, often on a grain of dust or something that forms a drop nucleus, although this is not always necessary. This then falls from the sky as rain.

On the other hand, lightning is formed from electrostatic charges that build in the clouds. When the potential difference between these two charges is great enough, electrons will fly through the air, ionizing a train and creating the flash of light and thunderclap associated with them. There is no reason rain and lightning must be together.

Answer 3

Rain and lightning are connected in no way at all..
Lightning occurs when clouds are negatively charged.. and discharge there excess electrons to the positivlely charged ground. Rain occurs when clouds reach their dew points, which is when the raindrops excess the mass in which the water vapour can float in the clouds.. The two are usually mixed together because lightning usually occurs in wamer weather, as does clouds reaching their dew points..

Answer 4

The only explanation I can come up with is that the thunderstorm you are seeing is called a high base thunderstorm, meaning the base is higher than a normal wet thunderstorm and the rain that is trying to fall is evaporating before it reaches the ground, this is very common in Eastern Oregon during the summer.

Answer 5

no longer something is going on. Lightning has continually exceeded off throughout the time of snow storms whilst the situation has been perfect. there's no longer something weird and wonderful occurring. it incredibly is in simple terms a sort of climate phenomenons. it incredibly is a very uncommon adventure in spite of the shown fact that it has continually occured.

Answer 6

Well technichaly it does rain different kinds of colors they say if its purple its showing that dust is in the air,if it is blue it indicated that there rain in the air, if its yellow it shows hail is in the air.

Answer 7

beats me.