Question #87212
1 Answer
Yes
Explanation:
It occurs both ways. The fact that lightning can strike from cloud to cloud and only occurs when there is a cumulonimbus cloud proves that it originates in the cloud, however it isn't as simple as that.
Lightning strikes near the speed of light, and as such it is very difficult to study. We still do not know everything about it. That being said when lightning strikes the Earth it begins in the cloud and descend towards the Earth, often branching as it goes, and we refer to the first part as a leader, more specifically the downward leader.
As the charge builds up at the bottom of the cloud it enhances the electrical field in the ground underneath. If that field gets strong enough it can produce an upward streamer. When the downward leader connects with an upward streamer a low resistance channel is created and a discharge will occur. The leader usually covers about 90% of the distance, the streamer the remaining 10%.
So knowing this you can see how people can think of lightning striking from both cloud to ground and ground to cloud.
