3 ms·

I don’t think that’s always the case as it doesn’t really account for ground-to-cloud lightning strikes

• swayvil 6y ago
  Well I dunno about "always the case", but it's certainly accountable for ground-to-cloud. What the seed does is create a place of high potential. I think which way the lightning flows is arbitrary at that point.
  • dms_ucsc 6y ago
    The case in the paper I linked above was an intracloud flash, but nearly all cloud-to-ground flashes also start with a breakdown up in the cloud, so I agree that any model of lightning initiation can apply to both intracloud and cloud-to-ground flashes.
    • swayvil 6y ago
      Navajo mythology says that a man who was struck by lightning cannot be trusted. Not because he's evil or damaged, but because he has been touched by profound alienness. He's too weird to predict.