![]() ![]() ![]() Not to be confused with common intracloud lightning occuring within one storm cloud. Cloud-to-Cloud Lightning: Somewhat rare type of discharge between two or more completely separate storm clouds.These phenomena are best viewed at long distances from large thunderstorm complexes, at least 100 miles away. They are swift and faintly lit, making them nearly invisible to the naked eye and difficult to photograph. They have been found to occur in conjunction with and/or as a reaction to positive cloud-to-ground lightning discharges. PHOTOS: Intracloud/Anvil Crawler Lightning GalleryĮlectrical discharges that occur high above active thunderstorms. Anvil crawlers can either occur independently completely within the cloud, or in connection with a cloud-to-ground discharge. The name 'anvil crawler' is derived from the visible 'crawling' motion and their tendency to appear along the underside of the anvil portions of a thunderstorm. This type of lightning (sometimes referred to as 'crawlers' or 'rocket lightning') often cover very large distances, resulting in vast, spectacular sky-filling discharges.Īnvil crawlers are often very high-altitude events, and as such typically result in soft, rolling thunder due to their great distance from the observer. In other words, the anvil crawler's movement is slow enough (compared to most lightning discharges) that a human observer or normal-speed video camera can see its rapid motion across the sky. Sprites (see below) are usually associated with the more intense positive CGs.Īnvil Crawlers are horizontal, tree-like, in-cloud lightning discharges whos leader propagation is resolvable to the human eye. Thunder from a positive CG is typically very loud, and many times sounds like a series of deep, low-frequency sonic booms. It is common for photographs of positive CGs to be overexposed unless the photographer has stopped the lens down significantly. Positive CGs usually consist of only one return stroke, which is typically very bright and intense relative to other lightning activity in a storm. Most positive cloud-to-ground lightning strikes can be identified visually and in photographs by their distinctive lack of branching, especially close to the ground (positive CGs occasionally will have branching at higher altitudes, but rarely near the ground). ![]() Positive CGs are less common than negative CGs, and usually are associated with supercell thunderstorms and trailing stratiform precipitation regions behind squall lines. PHOTOS: Cloud-to-Ground Lightning GalleryĪ lightning discharge between cloud and ground where the positive end of an in-cloud bidirectional leader descends to the ground via a positively-charged leader. The first return stroke of a negative CG is usually the only branched one - the branches usually do not illuminate again in subsequent return strokes.ĪRTICLE: In-depth look at cloud-to-ground lightning Negative CGs commonly consist of multiple "return strokes", which are additional pulses of current that illuminate the channel again and again. Negative cloud-to-ground lightning strikes can be identified visually and in photographs by their distinctive downward branching (aside from the portion of the channel very close to the ground, where upward leaders can be branched upward). Most of the lightning you can see striking the ground in a storm is of the negative cloud-to-ground variety. Negative CGs are more common than positive CGs. A lightning discharge between cloud and ground where the negative end of an in-cloud bidirectional leader descends to the ground via a downward-moving, negatively-charged stepped leader. ![]()
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