⚡️ Thunderstorm formation requires rising air and moisture.
🌩️ Different types of uplift mechanisms can cause air to rise and form clouds.
🌪️ The mature stage of a thunderstorm is capable of producing tornadoes, hail, and frequent lightning.
⚡️ During a thunderstorm, colliding molecules create charge separation, resulting in a positively charged top and a negatively charged base of the thunderstorm.
🔋 The negatively charged base of the thunderstorm repels electrons in the ground, leaving a positive charge on the ground, creating a battery-like system.
🌩️ When lightning is initiated, air is ionized as the negative charge moves down in a process called step leaders.
⚡️ Lightning is the result of a negative charge trying to balance with the ground's positive charge.
🌩️ The lightning bolt we see is actually the return stroke, when the negative charge from the base of the cloud drains down into the ground, releasing heat, light, and energy.
🌪️ There are different types of lightning, including negative cloud-to-ground lightning and positive lightning. Positive lightning, originating from the top of a thunderstorm, is more dangerous and can strike far away from the thunderstorm.
⚡️ Lightning can occur in different forms, including intra-cloud, cloud to air, cloud to cloud, and ground to cloud.
🌩️ Transient luminous events, such as blue jets, red sprites, and elves, occur high up in the atmosphere during thunderstorms.
🔥 If caught in a thunderstorm, it is important to take precautions as lightning can reach extremely high temperatures and pose a danger.
⚡️ When you see lightning, count the number of seconds before you hear thunder to estimate how far away it is.
🏢 The safest place during a lightning storm is in a grounded building or a car with a metal frame.
🌳 If caught in a forest during a storm, avoid standing under the tallest tree and seek shelter in a smaller grove of trees.
⛈️ If there is no shelter available and you are about to be struck by lightning in an open field, crouch down on your toes and cover your ears.
🌩️ The longest recorded lightning strike was 200 miles long.
🌩️ Lightning can travel long distances and precautions should be taken during thunderstorms.
🌧️ The North American monsoon brings a change in wind direction, resulting in a wet summer in the Southwest United States and northwestern Mexico.
🌬️ Seasonal pressure changes influence wind patterns during the North American monsoon, leading to shifts in moisture content.
🌩️ Lightning is most prolific in the Southwest due to rising convection in the atmosphere and moisture from the Gulf of California.
⚡ Higher cloud bases in the Southwest result in more photogenic lightning compared to other regions in the United States.
🌧️ The lecture also covered thunderstorm formation, different stages of updrafts and downdrafts, lightning components, and safety during thunderstorms.