Lightening is a capacitor undergoing dielectric breakdown. The ground is one plate, the cloud is the other. Lightening is the evidence of dielectric breakdown.

Lightening is a capacitor undergoing dielectric breakdown. The ground is one plate, the cloud is the other. Lightening is the evidence of dielectric breakdown. Dielectric breakdown on the order of millions of volts. A mile of air didn't help, no amount of teflon is going to help either.