Types of Lightning
Lightning types, forms and side effects:
Thunderstorms and especially lightning are one of the most fascinating weather phenomena.
Here you will find extensive information about the types of lightning, their forms and side effects.
In the 70's I became fanatically interested in thunderstorms, and have been able to witness and record many types of lightning.
Here is a list with a lot of information of what there is, this is for a number of people perhaps (still) new, because there are I think still more forms and (by)appearances ...
01 - Band lightning, lightning that breaks up due to strong winds,
02 - Base lightning, visible horizontal lightning just below the base of the cloud,
03 - Sheet lightning, sheet lightning is cloud-to-cloud lightning that shows a diffuse brightening of the surface of a cloud caused by the actual discharge path being hidden or too far away. The lightning itself cannot be seen by the observer, so it appears to be only a flash or beam of light. The lightning may be too far away to distinguish individual flashes.
04 - Ball lightning, ball lightning is a sphere that shoots through the sky or can even roll along the ground and can strike through chimneys, windows and doors but inside and can disappear silently or cause damage with a huge bang, also during storms, ball lightning can arise from an electrical devices, also from electrical pylons and antennas can create this phenomenon,
05 - Fire lightning (see fire lightning),
06 - Combination lightning, are a combination of horizontal and vertical lightning,
07 - Diagonal lightning, these are vertical lightning that strike diagonally,
08 - Clear sky lightning, see cloudless lightning,
09 - Horizontal lightning, lightning that is horizontal and can be short or long, CC lightning (cloud to cloud),
10 - Candle straight lightning, these are lightning with no twists,
11 - Chain lightning, see string of pearls lightning,
12 - Head lightning, lightning that lights up at the top of the shower,
13 - Bead lightning, see string of pearls lightning,
14 - Winding lightning, lightning that is wound in different shapes, such as vertical and horizontal,
15 - Long horizontal lightning, horizontal lightning observed 100 km or longer,
16 - Slow lightning, lightning that you can sometimes see for a little longer, sometimes half to 1 second,
17 - Sparks, these are mini discharges that can occur as sparks in and around the shower,
18 - Ribbon lightning, ribbon lightning occurs in thunderstorms with high crosswinds and multiple return strokes. The wind blows each subsequent return stroke slightly to one side of the previous return stroke, creating a ribbon effect.
19 - Walking lightning, lightning that the see walking in the air (for all basic lightning), this one also belongs to the slower type of lightning that you see walking through the air literally.
20 - Airless lightning, through the top up or horizontally buoying the thunderstorm, CA
21 - Airless vertical lightning, vertical lightning that stops midway (airless),
22 - Multiple lightning, 2 or more lightning next to each other, (can be vertical or horizontal)
23 - Downward lightning (vertical lightning), the standard CG (cloud to ground) discharges that can strike into the ground or elsewhere,
24 - Unbranched lightning, lightning that has no branches,
25 - Upward lightning, these are inverted lightning these strike from the ground to the cloud, GC (ground to cloud),
26 - String of pearls lightning, lightning that extinguishes like a string of pearls or in many pieces, is also called bead lightning or chain lightning,
27 - Rocket lightning, Avil Crawlers are tree-like, horizontally moving IC lightning discharges that tend to appear along the underside of thunderstorm anvils. They can be seen by the human eye due to their slower speed (relative to other lightning!). This type of lightning (sometimes called "rocket lightning") often travels very long distances, resulting in spectacular sky-filling displays.
28 - Rocket Lightning 2, Rocket lightning is a form of cloud discharge, generally horizontal and cloud-based, with a channel of light that appears to be moving forward through the sky at visually resolvable speeds, often intermittent.
29 - Repetitive lightning, lightning that shoots through the same channel 2 times or more,
30 - Snake lightning, lightning like snake shapes that run through the air, (see also running lightning),
31 - Sprites, are red and/or blue sprites are large scale electrical discharges that occur high above thunderstorms, (cumulonimbus), which gave rise to quite a diverse range of visual shapes flickering in the night sky.
They are usually caused by the discharges of positive lightning between an underlying thunderstorm cloud and the ground.
32 - Staccato lightning, staccato lightning is cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning, a short-lived strike that appears (often, but not always) as a single very bright flash and often has significant branching. These are often found in the visual vault region near the mesocycle of rotating thunderstorms and coincide with the intensification of the upward flow of thunderstorms. A similar cloud-to-cloud attack, consisting of a brief flash over a small area, which looks like a blip, also occurs in a similar area with rotating upward flows.
33 - St. Elm Fire, St-Elmus fire is a peculiar electromagnetic light phenomenon, these often occur during thunderstorms, these can occur on many objects and which you can see as small flames, discharges, sparks or balls of light,
34 - Branched lightning, lightning that is branched, into 2 or more branches,
35 - Vertical anvil lightning, vertical lightning that strikes high through the anvil of the thunderstorm outside the shower,
36 - Plane lightning, lightning that flares in the cloud, e.g. in weather lights, thunderstorms at a distance,
37 - Spark lightning (see pre-discharge),
38 - Pre-discharges, after the pre-discharge, which connects the cloud and the earth, the main discharge takes place. This discharge passes through the air in the same area where the pre-discharge was, these are pre-discharges that you see as a spark, which you can hear as a hissing or grinding sound,
39 - Fork lightning, fork lightning is shown as jagged lines of light, lightning that strikes at end 2 or more teeth / branches (channels), also in horiontal lightning, fork lightning occurs at beginning and end 2 or more teeth / branches has,
40 - Volcano lightning, lightning created by high temperature differences and electromagnetic fields in volcanic eruptions,
41 - Fire lightning, these are lightning that start fires, especially in dry areas, in forests, moors, etc....
42 - Fire arrow lightning, these are lightning that shoot through the air like a fire arrow, these can occur as horizontal or vertical,
43 - Staccato lightning, this is cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning, a short-lived strike that appears (often, but not always) as a single very bright flash and often has significant branching. These are often found in the visual vault area near the mesocycle of rotating thunderstorms and coincide with the intensification of the upward flow of thunderstorms . A similar cloud-to-cloud attack, consisting of a brief flash over a small area, which looks like a blip, also occurs in a similar area with rotating upward currents.
44 - Cloud-to-cloud lightning, these are horizontal lightning that shoots from one thunderstorm to another,
45 - Cloudless lightning, very rare lightning that can occur in special circumstances, in clear skies (clear sky lightning)