Weather Whys; Thunder

This is weather-wise. When lightning strikes nearby, it's followed almost immediately by a loud thunderclap. The reason is that a lightning bolt can heat the air surrounding it to over 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is five times the temperature on the surface of the sun. That sudden temperature change creates a violent shockwave which reaches our ears as thunder. If you're unfortunate enough to be very close to a lightning strike, you'll be unable to tell any time it lapsed between when you saw the lightning and heard the thunder. But if you're several miles away, you'll see the flash of light before you hear the thunder. In fact, you can use the time difference between when you see a lightning bolt and when the thunder reaches you to estimate the distance between you and the lightning. Simply count the seconds between when you see the flash and when you hear the crack. Once it takes sound about five seconds to travel a mile, divide the number of seconds you counted by five to get the distance to the lightning in miles.

During a storm, you may notice the loudest bangs of thunder are almost immediately preceded by a characteristic warning sound. Some describe it as a crack, others say it sounds like tearing fabric. But one reason for that warning is that the shockwave from the bottom of the lightning bolt will reach the ground more quickly than the wave from the top. But sometimes there may be lightning and no apparent thunder, even when the flash seems relatively close. Some scientists say if the air is especially turbulent and chaotic, the disturbances can cause the shockwaves to dissipate before they reach you. Whether wise is a production of the Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms at the University of Oklahoma, established in 1989 by the National Science Foundation for research on local and regional prediction of storms. The writer is Christine Harbour, editor is Brian Walkie. For Weatherwise, I'm Drew Barlow.