Never. Thunder and lightning always come together. But you'd never know it. You always see the lightning before you hear the thunder. That's because light travels super fast, at 186,000 miles (300,000km) a second! Sound is much slower, at only about 1/5 mile (0.3km) a second. So first you see lightning, then you hear the thunder.
Thunder is a result of Lightning. When hot air hits cold air it creates friction and that friction creates lightning. There is more to it than that, this is the quick version. Since light is the fastest speed you will hear the sound of thunder much later because sound is slower than light. Popular thinking will tell you that the time between lightning and thunder is the distance you are from the action. 1 second = 1 mile.
I have seen "lightening" all around, tonight in fact, and heard no thunder. But there were no bolts--it was bursts of lights in the clouds that lit up the sky. I have seen this other times as well on humid warm nights (in Western North Carolina). Later this evening, it did rain.
I found a reference to "heat lightning" on Wikipedia that indicates "Heat lightning is a misnomer for the faint flashes of lightning on the horizon or other clouds from distant thunderstorms that do not have accompanying sounds of thunder. Heat lightning was named because it often occurs on hot summer nights, and to distinguish it from lightning with accompanying thunder. Ordinary lightning results from the discharge of negative ions created from the friction of ice and water particles bumping into each other at the bottom of a cloud. Heat lightning can be an early warning sign that thunderstorms are approaching..."
"There are two possible reasons for the lack of thunder. In some cases, the thunderstorm may be too distant to hear the associated thunder from the lightning discharge. Thunder rarely travels more than 10 miles[citation needed]. Other cases can be explained by the refraction of sound by bodies of air with different densities. An observer may see nearby lightning, but the sound from the discharge is refracted over his head by a change in the temperature, and therefore the density, of the air around him. As a result, the lightning discharge seems to be silent. "Under optimum conditions the most intense thunderstorms can be seen at up to 100 miles (161 km) or more distant over flat terrain or water when the clouds are illuminated by large lightning discharges, though an upper limit of 30-50 (48-80 km) miles is more common due to topography, items on the horizon like trees and so on, the fact that local visibilities above 25 miles (40 km) are uncommon in most areas, and other low and mid level clouds. Variability of anvil height also contributes -- 45 000 feet (13 715 m) is very common in the mid latitudes for warm season thunderstorms but the range can be from 35 000 (10 665 m) to a current record of 78 000 feet (23 770 m). There is evidence that suggests some cases of heat lightning are, in fact, slow, diffuse discharges of electricity." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_lightning
Lightning without thunder is called heat lightning. It occurs when the lightning is too far away for humans to hear the thunder.
Without Lightining, There'll be no Electricity or Energy. You can't really have thunder without lightning! Lightning is a flash of natural electricity. Thunder is the noise created by this phenomenon, so if there is no lightning, there is no thunder. I hope this answers your question! --A WikiAnswers user
No. Thunder is the sound produced by lightning. Lightning is a form of electricity.
There is no lightning or thunder during the majority of typhoons. However, lightning and thunder have been occasionally reported during typhoons.
There is a delay between seeing the lightning and hearing the thunder because the speed of light (lightning) is much faster than the speed of sound (thunder). Thus, you SEE lightning first, and then you HEAR thunder later.
Lightning without thunder is called heat lightning. It occurs when the lightning is too far away for humans to hear the thunder.
most likely there is lighting from a further away storm and that's why the thunder occurs other wise i don't know
Without Lightining, There'll be no Electricity or Energy. You can't really have thunder without lightning! Lightning is a flash of natural electricity. Thunder is the noise created by this phenomenon, so if there is no lightning, there is no thunder. I hope this answers your question! --A WikiAnswers user
Lightning heats up the air and the heated expanding air causes the thunder sound. You can estimate how far away the lightening was by counting seconds after the flash, 6 seconds to a mile away.thunder is the sound of lightning after the lightning strike occurs
No. It is very common for rain to occur without thunder or lightning.
His lightning bolt! There cannot not be any storms if Zeus does not have his lightning bolt. For example, you can't have thunder without lightning.
thunder is the sound of lightning if that is what you are asking
The Latin words for thunder and lightning are: Thunder = Tonitrus Lightning = Fulgoris, Fulgor Storm = Procella
thunder and lightning do not come together as lightning is way much faster than thunder.
No. Thunder is the sound produced by lightning. Lightning is a form of electricity.
Lightning causes thunder. Lightning is a massive electrical discharge that you see as a bolt or flash of light. Thunder is the sound caused when the lightning superheats the air, creating a shockwave.
lightning+ thunder-=light'n'thunder