The one thing every thunderstorm has is thunder. And what creates that thunder? Lightning. Every single thunderstorm, ever, in the history of thunderstorms has lightning.
Let's talk about how and why that's important.
Lightning is created by rising, falling and colliding raindrops, hail stones, snowflakes, sleet pellets, and/or whatever other types of precipitation are in the clouds. Those collisions cause a separation of charges. Negative and positive charges get spread apart. But just like magnets being held apart, those opposites attract. That is was causes the strike.
That strike may only last a fraction of a second, but those strikes are 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit. To put that in perspective, the sun's surface is about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightning is five times hotter than the sun.
As far as safety is concerned, "When thunder roars, go indoors."
Lightning strikes the tallest and most conductive object around. So the overall safest place to be is inside, away from windows.
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