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By listening for the thunder. When you see a prominent lightning strike, start counting "one thousand one, one thousand two", etc. Each of those is about one second. There are five seconds in every mile (sound travels 1/5th of a mile per second). If you count to fifteen, the lightning strike is three miles away. Lightning and thunder occur at the same instant when the lightning strike is very close to you, and the thunder will sound more like a cymbal crash.

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Q: How can you estimate how far away the lightning strike will be?
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How far away should you be when lightning strikes?

that's impossible lightning can strike anywhere so no matter where you are lightning can possibly strike you even though lightning strikes to a human rarely happens but there sometimes reports of lightning strikes on lower ground but that doesnt mean you ignore that safety precaution cause that rarely happens


How far from heavy rain of a thunderstorm can lightning strike?

Lightning can strike up to 30 miles from a thunderstorm, though such instances are rare.


What is the difference between heat lightning and regular lightning?

Nothing. Heat lightning is just lightning too far away to be heard.


What is a simple way to estimate how far away lightning?

First, watch for lightning. The second it hits the ground, starts counting in seconds. Stop when you hear thunder. divide the seconds by 5 to get how many miles away the lightning is. For kilometers, divide the seconds by 3.


What causes claps of thunder?

Lightning is very hot, about 27760 degrees Celsius. When the lightning heats the air around it , the air instantly expands, resounding with a shock wave.The clap is an indication of how close you are to the lightning strike, a sharp bang means you are very close ( the sound will come almost immediately after the strike or at the same time), if you are farther away it will sound like a rumble as the sound waves bounce off the geographical features on its way to you ( the thunder will come several seconds later than the lightning strike )As kids we used to count the seconds that it took for the thunder to resound after a lightning strike to tell how far away it was, one second for one mile

Related questions

How do you calculate how far a storm is away?

After you here thunder every 6 seconds until the next lightning strike it is a mile.


How far away should you be when lightning strikes?

that's impossible lightning can strike anywhere so no matter where you are lightning can possibly strike you even though lightning strikes to a human rarely happens but there sometimes reports of lightning strikes on lower ground but that doesnt mean you ignore that safety precaution cause that rarely happens


How far from heavy rain of a thunderstorm can lightning strike?

Lightning can strike up to 30 miles from a thunderstorm, though such instances are rare.


If a lightning strike were to strike a muddy patch of ground how far away could you stand without being hurt?

If lightning hit mud, it probably wouldn't travel that far. If you were not worried about your sight or hearing, it would probably be safe up to 40-50 feet away. I wouldn't recomend staning in mud during a thunderstorm though.


How far from the heavy rain of a thunderstorm can lightning strike?

Lightning can strike up to 30 miles from the parent storm cell, though such cases are rare.


How far can lightning strike?

When you see a lightning bolt, start counting how many seconds till you hear thunder. Divide that number by 5 and that tells you how far away the lightning bolt was in miles. http://www.easycalculation.com/weather/lightning.php


What is the difference between heat lightning and regular lightning?

Nothing. Heat lightning is just lightning too far away to be heard.


What is a simple way to estimate how far away lightning?

First, watch for lightning. The second it hits the ground, starts counting in seconds. Stop when you hear thunder. divide the seconds by 5 to get how many miles away the lightning is. For kilometers, divide the seconds by 3.


How far from a storm can lightning strike?

Within 10 miles of the parent thunderstorm


How far can you hear thunder?

Typically, thunder can be heard up to 10 miles away from a lightning strike. Sound travels much slower than light, so there is a delay between seeing the lightning and hearing the thunder.


How far can lightning travel?

Lightning can strike up to 10 miles from it's parent storm cloud.


This is a delay of 5 seconds between the time you see a flash of lightning and hear thunder if the temperature is 20 celsius how far away is the lightning strike?

So, the sound travels at about 340 meters per second. The answer is 340 meters X 5 seconds equals 1700 meters away is the lightning strikes.