 Lightning is one of the most beautiful displays of nature. It is also one of the most unpredictable and dangerous hazards of Wyoming thunderstorms. Lightning is produced by cumulonimbus storm clouds. As the sun heats the earth, turbulent flows of warm moist air rise and fall with temperature changes and accumulate electrons or charge. These accumulations generate large powerful electric fields. When the electric fields are strong enough, these massive charge imbalances are discharged as electron flow towards areas with less charge, causing a lightning strike. There are many different types of lightning, with cloud to cloud lightning being the most common and cloud to ground lightning being the most dangerous. How far away was that bolt of lightning you just saw hit the ground? Count the number of seconds between the lightning bolt, the rumble, and then divide by five. Your answer will be in miles. From the University of Wyoming Extension, I'm Brian Sebade, Exploring the Nature of Wyoming.