Why can't we see small lightning flashes in small clouds at night?

Question

If we can see lightning when a thunder head moves threw clouds in a storm, why doesn't this happen on a smaller scale

Answer 1

Lightning and thunder originate from a particular cloud called cumulonimbus cloud.These clouds only have charged particles.They have a minimum height of atleast 6 to 7 Kms in the tropics as they should extend beyond the freezing level(the level where the temperature becomes zero)to have ice particles or crystals which are responsible for the formation of charged particles.This freezing level is approximately at 5 kms above the surface in the topics.So small clouds which do not extend beyond this freezing level can not produce lightning.Heat lightning is the usual lightning from an isolated thunder cloud which is far away and whose thunder sound does not reach us.

Answer 2

It does happen on a smaller scale, and quite often too.

It's called heat lightning, and where I live (in Northern Michigan) we are able to see it atleast once a week. Heat lightning has nothing to do with heat, but this lightning occurs without thunder. Heat lightning rarely if ever goes cloud to ground so it isn't really considered dangerous.

If you're talking about during storms though, the only cloud that is 'tough' enough to spawn lightning is a thunderhead. Small clouds don't have enough of an electric charge.

Make sense? I hope so....