The term heat lightning is commonly used to describe lightning from a distant thunderstorm which is too far away to hear the accompanying thunder. The lightning was on for more than 60 minutes without any sound. Heat lightning is thought to be the reflection of distant lightning on clouds. Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. While many people incorrectly think that heat lightning is a specific type of lightning, it is simply the light produced by a distant thunderstorm.

So what is it and why can't you hear the thunder?A lightning strike is when an electric discharge from the atmosphere is sent down into an earth-bound object.Thunder is the sound caused by the lightning and depending on the distance, the sound can be a short violent crack or a slow, low grumble.The phenomenon that is called silent or heat lightning is simply cloud-to-ground lightning that occurs very far away, with thunder that dissipates before it reaches the observer and cannot be heard.If you've seen lightning but not heard the accompanying thunder, it doesn't mean that it wasn't there, it just means it was too far away.Met Office meteorologist Nicola Maxey explained: "It's not an unusual phenomenon. All lightning produces thunder when the bolt heats the air around it. Thunder is the sound caused by the lightning and depending on the distance, the sound can be a short violent crack or a slow, low grumble. Many believe heat lightning is produced by hot and humid conditions, lighting up the night sky without any rain or thunder in the immediate area. Heat lightning is a flash of lighting which appears near the horizon, typically without any accompanying thunder. That amount of energy can heat the air between 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit (9,982 degrees Celsius) and 60,000 F (33,315 C). © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins I Survived Minecraft For 100 Days with Tors And This Is What Happened - Duration: 30:02. Many people believe heat lightning is produced by hot and humid conditions, lighting up the night sky without any rain or thunder in the immediate area. Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Also, a flash of lightning, however, can be seen from up to 100 miles away. Copyright © 2011. This rapid heating causes the air to quickly expand and generate a sound wave known as thunder, which travels through the atmosphere. "The time between the flash of lightning and the rumble of thunder can tell you how far away the storm is.For every five seconds you count, the lightning is one mile away.This is because light travels faster than sound, so although they originate in the same place the sound takes longer to arrive where you are.The general rule is if the gap between the lightning and thunder is less than 30 seconds, it is close enough to pose a threat.In order to hear the thunder, you need to be less than 10 miles from the lightning strike.There are three primary types of lightning, defined by what is at the "ends" of a flash channel.Intracloud (IC) lightning is the most common and occurs completely inside the cloud, jumping between different charge regions in the cloud.Cloud to cloud (CC) or intercloud lightning occurs between two orSilent lightning takes the form of cloud to ground (CG) which primarily originates in the cloud and terminates on an Earth surface, but may also occur in the reverse direction, that is ground to cloud.Around the world, there are over 3,000,000 flashes every day, according to the Lightning is also divided into groupings on what the observer sees.