Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Weather inquiry - Why was there only lightning, no thunder and no rain in the sky for six or seven hours, and I climbed to the roof to see it?

Why was there only lightning, no thunder and no rain in the sky for six or seven hours, and I climbed to the roof to see it?

These are all problems of thunder and vision. Sometimes there is lightning, but the thunder is not strong and the sound is very small. For example, we often see lightning on clear nights, but it doesn't thunder. There must be light and lightning when it thunders, but maybe our sight is often blocked in rainy days, so we can't see it.

Lightning is a phenomenon that clouds with positive and negative charges (or clouds close to the ground) emit light, sound and heat due to instantaneous high voltage and strong current discharge. It can only show that there is a lot of charge in the cloud at this time, which is not necessarily related to the water saturation of the cloud, so it does not necessarily rain.

Lightning is a discharge phenomenon in thunderstorm clouds, and the formation of thunderstorm clouds generally requires two conditions, sufficient water vapor and strong convection. In winter, because the air is cold and dry, the solar radiation is weak, and convection is not easy to form in the air, so lightning is rare. But sometimes when the temperature is high in winter, it will form thunderstorm clouds, leading to lightning and rain and snow.

The formation process of lightning, thunder and thunderstorm is briefly described as follows:

1, electrostatic field is formed when clouds and the ground have different charges;

2. The electrostatic field polarizes the water molecules in the air, producing a vertical upward electric field force, which is in balance with gravity;

3. When the cloud is thicker and thicker, the greater the electric field force, the greater the condensation of water vapor molecules;

4. When the electric field is large enough, water vapor molecules are ionized, that is, air is decomposed;

5. The light emitted during ionization is lightning, and the sound emitted is thunder;

6. The electric field force decreases immediately, and the water drops drop rapidly, forming a thunderstorm;

7. If the electric field is not strong, the water vapor will fall by itself and produce smaller raindrops.

8. A single lightning strike is usually 1/50 seconds; 9. The duration of a thunderstorm depends on the number of clouds, usually several minutes to several hours.