CLERMONT, Fla. – Storms and lightning strikes are a daily occurrence during summers in Florida, but capturing wicked video of a bolt is still mesmerizing.
A WKMG-TV viewer named Vic shared video of a bolt of lightning, which appears to travel from the ground up, with anchor Ginger Gadsden, who posted it on the ClickOrlando.com PinIt! page. (Watch at bottom of article.)
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“Vic says she’s never seen lightning this intense before,” Gadsden wrote.
Chief meteorologist Candace Campos said Vic’s video actually shows cloud-to-cloud lightning.
Campos mentioned that Central Florida has held the title of lightning capital of the U.S. in recent years, and added that some types of strikes are more dangerous than others.
Lightning occurs when a strong positive charge forms within a cloud and a strong negative charge develops somewhere else, whether another cloud, the ground or even the air surrounding it.
Types of lighting
Cloud-to-cloud lightning: This is when a strong charge is present with nearby clouds. From the ground, you will see a bolt stretch from one cloud to another.
Cloud-to-ground lightning: When the ground has a strong negative charge, the step leader (invisible to the human eye) zigzags downward in a forked pattern toward the ground. A return stroke of bright light travels about 60,000 miles per second up toward the cloud. This sequence happens so fast that one single, visible flash could consist of one or 20 return strokes. This type of strike is the most dangerous to people. Lightning is about 60,000 degrees, about six times hotter than the surface of the sun.
Cloud-to-air lightning: This occurs when the air surrounding the cloud maintains a strong negative charge. If looked at carefully, you will see a visible channel that extends out into the air around the storm but remains up in the sky.
Intra-cloud lightning: This lightning remains embedded within a cloud. The bolt in usually not seen; instead, the cloud lights up during the flash.
There is no way to predict which version of lightning is occurring during a storm, which is why experts say people should always head indoors when thunder roars. If lightning is visible, that means it is within a lightning risk area. A bolt of lightning can travel as far as 10 miles.
Share your videos and photos with ClickOrlando.com and others will be able to see them on our PinIt! page. Your artwork could also be shown on WKMG-TV!
Ginger Gadsden
Video sent to me from a viewer in the Oakland/Clermont area . Vic says she’s never seen lightning this intense before .