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I have noticed that sometimes it is raining slighty then a bolt of lightning comes following a clap of thunder and boom, the rain turns into a down pour. My question is why does this happen? It's almost like the lightning cuts a big hole in the cloud and lets the rain out.
Clyde R.
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Good question Clyde! If you stop to think about thunderstorms and the way the rain comes to your house, you certainly will notice this. We have to recall that thunder comes from lightning. That rapid heating of the air causes a shockwave which we hear, that's thunder. When you see lightning and immediately hear thunder, that means the storm is very close or on on top of your house basically. In this part of the storm there's the heaviest amount of rain. It's not so much that there's anything cutting holes through the clouds.
Knowing that the sound of the thunder travels at 5 seconds per mile you can calculate how far a storm is. From when you see the lightning and hear the thunder, start counting. Divide by 5 and you will figure out in miles how far the storm is.
For example, if you see a flash, then count to 10, then hear the BOOM of thunder. Divide 10 by 5 and you'll see the storm is 2 miles away! T-storms can move faster than 65 mph so if it's that close, the storm could arrive at your doorstep in only a couple of minutes!
Answered by KSL Meteorologist Dina Freedman.
