LIGHTNING – The Beauty & The Danger

Lightning is a powerful natural phenomenon caused by electrical charge separation in storm clouds, often striking with both deadly force and dazzling beauty. This article explores how lightning forms, its effects, and how to stay safe during storms.

Beautiful but deadly - a giant spark from the sky. c/o Atef Ouni, wikicommons. — Beautiful but deadly – a giant spark from the sky. c/o Atef Ouni, wikicommons.

This information is very important – Costa Rica experiences an average of 5 to 10 lightning-related deaths per year. Dozens more are injured. The danger lingers year-round but especially during the rainy season from May to October.

Table of Contents

⛈️Lightning Activity in Costa Rica

Costa Rica is one of the most lightning-prone countries in the world due to its tropical climate and mountainous terrain. According to the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), the country regularly records over 1.5 million lightning strikes annually, with some years exceeding 2 million discharges. This equates to an annual number of 28 lightning hits per each square kilometer of the country.

In May 2024 alone, ICE reported over 63,800 strikes by mid-month, with 10,000 strikes occurring on a single day (May 11). During one week in October 2025, Costa Rica registered 42,857 lightning strikes.

Annual lightning strikes per km2. Lake Maracaibo is the region with the most lightning in the world, with 233 lightning strikes per km2 per year.

⚡ How Lightning Forms

Thunderstorms begin with rising warm air. As this air cools, it forms towering cumulonimbus clouds. Inside these clouds, ice crystals and hailstones collide. These collisions transfer electrons, creating charge separation. Positive charges rise with ice crystals, while negative charges sink with hail.

This imbalance creates a strong electric field. The ground responds with an opposite charge. When the field becomes strong enough, a stepped leader descends from the cloud. A streamer rises from the ground. When they meet, a massive current flows. The air heats to over 30,000°C, producing a flash and a shockwave—thunder.

💪🏼The Frightening Power & Peril of Positive Lightning Strikes

Have you ever heard thunder so loud, deep, and resonating that it shook both your house windows an your soul??? You knew it was not a regular lightning strike by the sound & power of the thunder. This was likely a rare but deadly positive lightning strike.

Positive lightning can happen ahead, to the side or behind the storm, even under blue, sunny skies. When the rain stops, the danger lingers - for a long time. And the same danger is present before the storm is even close. c/o Frank Cone, Pexels. — Positive lightning can happen ahead, to the side or behind the storm, even under blue, sunny skies. When the rain stops, the danger lingers – for a long time. And the same danger is present before the storm is even close. c/o Frank Cone, Pexels.

Positive lightning is one of nature’s most intense electrical phenomena. It carries up to one billion volts—far more than typical lightning—and can strike tens of miles from its source. Because it can originate from the tops of storm clouds, it often hits without warning and is sometimes called Bolt from the Blue.

Its immense energy can ignite wildfires, destroy infrastructure, and cause fatal injuries. Though rare, positive lightning is disproportionately responsible for long-range strikes and lightning-related deaths.

🧝🏼 Sprites and Other Thunderstorm Phenomena

Sprites, ELVES, and blue jets are some of the dazzling electrical events that occur high above thunderstorms. Unlike regular lightning, these Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) happen in the upper atmosphere, often invisible to the naked eye.

Various atmospheric phenomena that occur above (usually) very powerful thunderstorms. c/o NOAA, wikicommons.

Sprites are reddish-orange flashes shaped like jellyfish or carrots, triggered by powerful positive lightning.

Sprites photographed above Rome. c.o Denis huber, wikicommons.

ELVES appear as vast, glowing rings caused by electromagnetic pulses.

ELVES phenomenon captured on March 27, 2023 in Possagno, Italy. c/o Valter Binotto, wikicommons.

Blue Jets and Giant Jets are rare types of upward lightning discharges from thunderstorm tops into the stratosphere, with blue jets shooting narrow cones of light up to 50 kilometers and giant jets reaching even higher with broader, more powerful bursts.

A gigantic jet (Blue Jet derivative) photographed from the Gemini Observatory on Mauna Kea on July 24, 2017. c/o International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/A. Smith, wikicommons.

Though brief, these events offer insight into how thunderstorms interact with the upper atmosphere. They also help scientists study space weather and atmospheric electricity. As imaging technology improves, more of these hidden sky phenomena are being discovered.

⚠️ Deadly Lightning Dangers

Lightning is unpredictable and deadly. Globally, lightning causes an estimated 2,000 to 4,000 deaths and tens of thousands of injuries each year.

The exact numbers vary due to underreporting, especially in rural and developing regions. Even if it’s not raining, you’re still at risk – especially from the ultra powerful positive lightning that can travel tens of miles away from the main storm. Lightning doesn’t always hit the tallest object. It can strike anything in its path.

And lightning can cause fires, power outages, and structural damage. It also poses serious health risks. Survivors may suffer long-term neurological issues, PTSD, memory loss, or chronic pain.

This is what a lightning strike can do to a tree. c/o Forest and Kim Starr, wikicommons.

⚠️ MUST-KNOW Lightning Safety Information

Most lightning injuries are from indirect strikes, such as ground current, side flash, or contact voltage—not direct hits.
Lightning can travel over 30 meters (100 feet) across the ground, especially through wet soil or conductive surfaces like concrete or metal.
Over 50% of lightning injuries occur after the storm has passed or before it arrives, often when skies appear deceptively clear.
Lightning can strike tens of kilometers (miles) away from a storm, known as a “bolt from the blue”.
Sheltering under trees is the second leading cause of lightning casualties, due to ground current spreading from the trunk.
Lying flat on the ground increases your risk, as it exposes more of your body to ground current.
Metal doesn’t attract lightning, but it conducts it extremely well—fences, pipes, and wires can carry strikes long distances.
One-third of lightning injuries happen indoors, often through plumbing, electrical systems, or corded phones.
Rubber tires don’t protect you in a car—it’s the metal frame that safely channels lightning around you.
Lightning can strike the same place multiple times, especially tall or isolated objects like towers or buildings.

When a storm approaches, head indoors and take precautions – noted in the next section.

✍🏼 Lightning Safety Tips

If you hear thunder, seek shelter immediately. A sturdy building or enclosed metal-topped vehicle is best. Stay inside for at least 30 minutes after the last thunderclap. Avoid windows, doors, and plumbing. Don’t use corded electronics during a storm.

Outdoors, never shelter under isolated trees or near water. Avoid metal fences, power lines, and open fields. If caught outside, crouch low with minimal contact with the ground. Never lie flat.

21 head of cattle killed by a lightning strike after taking shelter under a tree. c/o Cristi0401, wikicommons.

🌿 Surprising Benefits of Lightning

Lightning isn’t just destructive—it plays a vital role in Earth’s ecosystems. Each strike helps convert atmospheric nitrogen into nitrates, which fertilize soil and support plant growth. This natural nitrogen fixation is especially important in tropical regions with frequent storms – because their soil is water drenched and nutrients are easily washed away so they need to be constantly replenished.

Tropical rains wash out nutrients - and lightning is a key process of nitrogen replenishment. — Tropical rains wash out nutrients – and lightning is a key process of nitrogen replenishment.

Lightning also helps cleanse the atmosphere by breaking down pollutants and triggering chemical reactions that reduce greenhouse gases like methane. In addition, lightning contributes to the global electric circuit (Schumann Resonance), maintaining the balance of electrical energy between Earth and the ionosphere. Even wildfires sparked by lightning renew ecosystems by clearing old vegetation and promoting biodiversity. Though dangerous, lightning is a powerful force of renewal and balance in nature.

Fires play a vital ecological role by clearing dead vegetation, recycling nutrients into the soil, and stimulating new plant growth. Many ecosystems—from grasslands to forests—depend on periodic fires to maintain biodiversity, support fire-adapted species, and prevent overgrowth that could fuel more destructive blazes. c/o Margaret Donald, wikicommons.

🦠 Lightning’s Spark: A Possible Origin of Life

Scientists believe lightning may have helped life begin on Earth. Early Earth lacked reactive elements needed for biomolecules. Lightning strikes produced plasma that transformed stable gases into reactive compounds. These reactions created accessible forms of nitrogen and carbon—essential for forming proteins and nucleic acids.

Lightning also unlocked phosphorus trapped in rocks by forming schreibersite in fulgurites. Schreibersite dissolves in water, making phosphorus usable for life. Unlike meteorites, lightning struck Earth consistently for billions of years. Phosphorus is essential for life because it forms the backbone of DNA, powers cells with energy, and builds strong bones and membranes. This steady energy source may have triggered the chemical pathways that led to life’s emergence.

Though dangerous, lightning is a powerful force of renewal and balance in nature. It has been with us for billions of years and many other planets of the solar system are no strangers to lightning. A primordial force that may have even been implicated in the rise of life on Earth!

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Cover image c/o Morteza Akhnia, Pexels