Lightning Travel Through

Damage from this type of event is generally less severe than that of a direct strike.

Lightning travel through. It can go from the cloud to the ground. Lightning can travel from cloud to cloud within the same cloud or between the cloud and ground. In trees that are already dying or rotting the moisture may be concentrated deep in the trunk.

When lightning strikes the electrical current follows the path of least resistance down to the ground. The powerful strike will be explosive and blow the trunk apart splitting the trunk in two or totally obliterated to splinters. When the stepped leader and leader meet they provide a conducting path for charge flow like a wire connecting the cloud and the ground.

The greater the distance between contact points the greater the potential for. A direct lightning strike on a conductor of a power line causes extremely high voltage pulses at the strike point which are propagated as traveling waves in either direction from the point of strike. This lightning bolt of energy that is let out is called a leader stroke.

In-cloud lightning discharges are more common than cloud-to-ground discharges and are not as hazardous. The two opposide-moving leaders meet in midair usually at a point about 300 feet or less above ground. Lightning can travel through your pipes and strike you while youre showering.

This process however is fairly quick so the ground or whatever was struck does not remain electrically dangerous afterwards. The energy from a nearby lightning strike can travel through communication wires such as phone internet or cable wires directly from a utility pole into the homes electrical panel or through conductive metal such as plumbing or metal bars in the foundation. As a result the National Weather Service advises people to stay away from windows during lightning storms.

Lightning travels both ways. Lightning forks and rejoins itself over Table Mountain and Lions Head in Cape Town South Africa. As lightning travels through sandy soil the soil surrounding the plasma channel may melt forming tubular structures called fulgurites.