How do we know?
↻ One of the pages with a moving picture
Scientists sent weather balloons into thunderstorms.
- Inside a storm cloud, strong winds toss tiny ice crystals and soft hail called graupel.
- Scientists think bumping gives them electric charges. Light ice rises to the top. Heavier graupel stays lower.
- When enough charge builds up, a giant spark jumps. That’s lightning!
- Lightning heats the air to about 50,000°F. The air bursts outward with a boom: thunder!
Scientists launched weather balloons with instruments into thunderstorms to map the electricity inside. But experts still debate exactly how clouds build up charge.
Some places get more lightning than others. Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, Earth’s top lightning spot, has about 297 night thunderstorms a year. Lightning hits the Empire State Building in New York City about 23 times a year.
If you can hear thunder, lightning can reach you.
Wow number
10 miles away: that’s about how far off you can usually hear thunder.
Myth or fact?
Lightning never strikes the same place twice. Myth. Tall, pointy things can be hit again and again.
If you can hear thunder, lightning can reach you. Fact. Go indoors right away.
Think about it
Count the seconds from flash to boom, then divide by 5. That’s about how many miles away it is. Why do you see the flash first?
Where in the world?
Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela Earth’s top lightning spot, with about 297 night thunderstorms a year. The Empire State Building in New York City is hit about 23 times a year — 9.7° N, 71.6° W.
Where these facts come from
Every number on page 34, and who measured it
This page explains how storm clouds get charged and how to tell how far away lightning is.
Severe Weather 101: Lightning Basics — NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory, U.S. storm scientists
nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/lightning
We checked it on 31 October 2026
This page tells us how hot lightning is.
How Hot Is Lightning? — The U.S. National Weather Service
weather.gov/safety/lightning-temperature
We checked it on 31 October 2026
This page tells us Lake Maracaibo is Earth's top lightning spot.
Earth's New Lightning Capital Revealed — NASA, the U.S. space agency
nasa.gov/missions/trmm/earths-new-lightning-capital-revealed
We checked it on 31 October 2026
This page tells us lightning hits the Empire State Building about 23 times a year.
Lightning Myths — The U.S. National Weather Service
weather.gov/safety/lightning-myths
We checked it on 31 October 2026
This page tells us how far away you can usually hear thunder, and that if you hear it, you should go indoors.
Understanding Lightning Science — The U.S. National Weather Service
weather.gov/safety/lightning-science-overview
We checked it on 31 October 2026
Has this changed?
Scientists are still working out exactly how clouds build up charge, so this answer may grow.
What does not change is the advice: if you can hear thunder, go indoors.
Words from this page
- graupel
- Soft hail made of tiny ice pellets.
- lightning
- A giant spark of electricity in the sky.
- thunder
- The boom made when lightning heats the air and it bursts outward.
Try it!
Make a static charge, a little like a storm cloud.
1. Tear a tissue into tiny bits on a table. 2. With a grown-up, rub a blown-up balloon on your hair. 3. Hold it just above the bits. Toss any popped balloon bits.
What happens: the bits jump up! Rubbing gave the balloon an electric charge, a little like bumping ice in a storm cloud.
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