Spider Lightning, The Monsoons, Tucson, AZ
Anvil crawler lightning, sometimes called spider lightning is created when leaders propagate through horizontally-extensive charge regions in mature thunderstorms, usually the stratiform regions of mesoscale convective systems. These discharges usually begin as IC discharges originating within the convective region; the negative leader end then propagates well into the aforementioned charge regions in the stratiform area. If the leader becomes too long, it may separate into multiple bidirectional leaders. When this happens, the positive end of the separated leader may strike the ground as a positive CG flash or crawl on the underside of the cloud, creating a spectacular display of lightning crawling across the sky. Ground flashes produced in this manner tend to transfer high amounts of charge, and this can trigger upward lightning flashes and upper-atmospheric lightning.
Size: 8688px × 5792px
Photo credit: © Phil Degginger / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: arizona, atmospheric, az, bolt, bolts, claps, cloud--ground, clouds, cloudy, copy, current, danger, discharge, electrical, electricity, flash, flashing, flow, front, ground, inclement, intra-cloud, landscape, lightning, monsoon, monsoons, negative, positive, precipitation, rain, raining, rod, sheet, space, spider, storm, strike, thunder, thundering, thunderous, thunderstorm, tucson, weather
