Lightning occurs within the clouds, between clouds, or between the cloud and the ground. The discharge of electricity built up when the positive and the negative charges collide, causes lightning. The distribution of electric charge in the cloud also depends on the distribution of water and the particles of ice in the cloud. To understand the strength of a lightning, we can say that an average lightning could be used for 3 months to light up a 100 watts bulb.
The air that ascends and descends in the atmosphere plays a role in the separation of the electric charges as positive and negative. Chance so getting hit by lightning is 1 in 600 thousand. This chance is further reduced if you follow the safety rules. It is only during the summer that most of the lightning hits take place because it is in this period the rapid heating and cooling of air takes place. It is estimated that around 100 thousand thunderstorms occur every year in USA.
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