Dec
22
2011
Have you ever experienced a small electric shock, or spark, when the humidity is low (dry), and you reach out in your house to touch the light switch, or another person? This is called static electricity and occurs when you walk across the carpet and build up a charge within your body which will discharge to the switch or another person.
The lightning that occurs during a thunderstorm is within the clouds or cloud to ground. Much like the small spark described above, the thunderstorm causes a large imbalance of electrical charges and discharges a bolt of electrical energy either cloud to cloud or cloud to ground.. Cloud to ground discharges cause deaths and property damages. You should take cover in a building, not under a tree, as lightning will strike the closest target (tree rather than open field). Thousands of fires are started every year by cloud to ground lightning.