Heat lightening? does it still happen?

yes I can see it alot here as the storms fall over the mountains but may never get here. also if you see lighting and count till it thunders thats how many miles away the storm is like ya count to ten in between and thats 10 miles away and most times it never moves this way

No I have not seen any years now but again it has not been as hot here in the Summer as it used to be years ago

We've never really had heat lightning as far as I remember. I mean, sure there would be the ocassional time when it was raining in the mountains but mostly not where we are which is the Central Valley in California. Now that I've said that, someone will say we do have it and that I just haven't noticed it before! LOL

I have never seen it..In fact i am not really sure what is is.....But i had to answer this because now i really want to know and maybe reading the responses will help me to find out....

Good morning Elic, I have never heard it referred to as heat lightening. That is interesting. I just always thought lightening was something u had before a storm. i'm like u i am very seldom outside after dark so i really don't see any at all anymore. Havn't ask u about your mom lately. hope she is doing as well as can be expected. Have a great day.

Ya'll are gonna have to take a ride north! We have it all the time here in Oklahoma. When I moved here from New England, I was amazed at how frequently it occurred down here. Spectacular bolts traveling cloud to cloud across the sky. I can sit outside watching it for hours...

Hi, I saw on TV recently about a new form of lightning, and I can't find a reference. In Australia, when it is a clear blue sky, rarely a flash will occur. I have seen this myself. This we call, sheet lightning, not the sheet lightning mentioned in wiki, which to me is just a cloud flash. They miss out on Australianisms there I guess. I saw that there is indeed an over the horison flash that occurs very high up. I do not think it is the red elves at work, the flash is white, this was a new one, and it accounts for the clear day sky flash, which is what I call, sheet lightning. I have not heard the term heat lightning before. I have learned again. The sheet lightning occurs very far away, but the flash extends for hundreds of miles, often over the horizon, actually above clear sky below. Maybe the same thing, just a different name. What really got me, was that the flash originated from so high up, and extended for so far around the lightning strike. Did someone just take my picture?

I've seen heat lightening lately. There was one occurence last winter with lightening during a white out. That was the most bizarre occurence that has happened to me ever. It startled my partner and I because we were sitting, eating a meal in a cafe' and it started with a whiteout and everything just lit up. It happened a few times. It was amazing but weird.

What you call heat lightning we used to call sheet lightning... because it came in a sheet, not the usual zigzag forky way. Perhaps we don't see it as much these days because of light pollution?

Wow, I haven't seen that in years and years. It's really been a long time now that you mentioned it. I actually forgot all about it, and I use to see it all the time when I was younger sitting on the porch at night but not anymore. I also remember how hot, dry and still it was then too, but even that's changed and this was in Cleveland, Ohio, in the middle of the city. The seasons are just not the same anymore.

hi ElicBxn you are in Texas, I am in Ca and Ihave never seen heat lightening here but oh yes when I was a kid back in South Dakota we had that every summer, it would just flash across the sky and being a kid Ihad got it mixed up with northern lights. but when I got older I got to see the northern lights a lot so then I knew the difference. Still it is an amazing phenomenom that colored flash across the sky when you are used to the zigzag lightening that goes straight down. I have not thought of heat lightening in years.

Hi Elic, I don't think I have seen one of those for many years as we don't get that much heat in our summers over here, normall its about two weeks of glorious warm sunny days and its starts to cool down, then we have heavy rains with thunder and lightening, thats about it all. Tamara

I can't remember the last time I saw heat lightening. When I was a kid I used to see it all the time. Now that you mention it I don't see it anymore.

I belive I have seen this a few times before during the summer. I knew that it was lighting and that a storm was off in the distance. but I never thought much about it.

Hey Elic! We definitely had plenty of heat lightening this summer here where I live. It was very hot and humid. There were many nights that there was absolutely no storms or rain, just heat and humidity! And then there would be lightening! I always thought that was so weird! I would kind of wait for the thunder, but it never came, nor the rain! Weather is such a strange occurance isn't it?