The different kinds of lightning

Monday, December 26, 2016
It's one of nature's most striking regular phenomena, but you may not know that lightning can appear in many different forms.

Intracloud lightning is contained within one cloud jumping between different charge regions, according to AccuWeather.

Cloud to cloud lightning happens between two or more completely separate storm clouds.

Cloud to ground-negative is "branching" lightning from cloud to ground, initiated by a negative charge. Cloud to ground-positive is "non-branching" lightning from cloud to ground, but instead initiated by a positive charge.

Ground to cloud lightning is upward-moving lightning that originates from an object on the ground. This type of lightning can be negative or positive.

Anvil crawlers are horizontal, tree-like, in-cloud lightning that appear to crawl beneath the storm, according to AccuWeather.
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