Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

1 Answers

Lightning Strikes

Asked by: 3192 views General Aviation

I was reading that the probability of a lightning strike is greatest when the temperature is between -5ºC and 5°C and that lightning activity is more prevalent between 5,000 to 15,000 feet. What is the theory behind this temperature and altitude range?

 

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

1 Answers



  1. Bill Trussell on Feb 15, 2013

    I will take a stab at this one but without knowing the source of your information it is hard to understand the context of the discussion and your question.

    First, recall that approximately 2/3 of the earth’s atmosphere by weight exists below 18,000 feet. That said, 2/3 of that which is necessary to generate the conditions for the creation of lightning exists in that same space. What is necessary is rapidly rising air in proximity to descending air. In that air is water vapor and associated molecules. The shearing of the atomic structure of those molicules is what creates the difference of potential that is built up to create the charge that is ultimately corrected (discharged) through and between adjacent air masses. The action of discharge presents itself (sometimes) as lightning.

    Your statement about altitude being between 5000 and 15000 implies cloud to cloud lightning activity. In this case the above scenario would apply. Below 5000 feet implies cloud to ground lightning. Also, most of the concentrated flow of air at that level is rising air or otherwise dispersed descending air. In any case the highest difference of potential would be where the greatest difference exists between the rising and decending air in the cloud generating the lightning, that being the middle altitudes.

    The best place to be in this situation is the lower third of the range of the cloud height, due to the separation of the air nearing the surface. Note that if we are discussing lightning strikes to aircraft, those can occur at any altitude and at any location in the vicinity of a storm generating such conditions.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.