Lalala Lightning

   Lightning Season in Colorado occurs mostly in our spring and summer months. Lightning occurs when a negative charge in the base of a cumulonimbus cloud connects with a positive charge on Earth.

Process of lightning occurring

   The first stroke that occurs is called a stepped leader and it is invisible to the human eye.

Once the stepped leader and the traveling spark connects to a positive charge on the Earth we are then able to see the strike.

The process of stepped leader and a return stroke

    In Colorado we are lucky to have our beautiful Rocky Mountains however during the summer because of the high elevation the air and the climate are drier. In the year 2014 only Two people have died in Colorado because of lightning. Each of the fatalities occurred well each of them were in an areas of high risk. One person was hiking on an open hiking trail well the other was sightseeing.Lightning is about 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit that is 5 time hotter than the surface of the sun.  The most dangerous place to be when there is lightning is outdoors. If there is lightning NEVER seek shelter under a tree because that is one of the higher risk areas. It may not be very likely that you would get struck by lightning but it's better to be safe than sorry.

   In the unlikely event that someone does get struck by lightning and dies you don't need to worry about the lightning transferring to you because there will be no electrical charge left in the body. The only way that lightning can get many people at once is if it strikes the ground or a body of water. 

Lightning doesn't only occur with rain storms it can also occur in snow storms, sand storms, and even over volcanoes as they erupting. The lightning occurs because of the positive and negative charges as well as the different climates. Just like lightning can occur in different types of storms also has different forms.
 

Lightning over downtown Denver