Is nature trying to wipe out Adelaide? This city was one of many places illuminated as 80,000 lightning strikes lit up the skies of southern Australia last night. A huge storm swept across the region, and lightning bolts triggered fires and power outages in the states of South Australia and Victoria, grounding flights out of Melbourne and destroying a house in its suburb of Prahran.
During an electrical storm, charge builds up inside storm clouds as tiny ice crystals collide, eventually releasing a bolt as electricity leaps from the sky to the ground. It is estimated that lightning strikes a location on Earth about 40 to 50 times every second.
In Australia, mysterious ball lightning has been spotted during storms. The green fireballs are thought to be caused by space debris falling into the atmosphere.'
If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.
