dry lightning

[Wilson Gray]

And, to paraphrase A, my understanding of "heat lightning" is that it
is cloud-to-cloud lightning (no visible bolt) that is seen on the
horizon in the absence of rain, or even cloudiness, locally. There was
never any accompanying thunder, in my experience. I used to find it
extremely annoying when I was a kid in Texas. It would always distract
me from whatever else I was doing, because I couldn't help watching
for the next flash, despite the fact the flashes were only a second or
less apart. I'd have to find a place where the lightning couldn't
attract my attention.

-Wilson

On 7/8/07, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: dry lightning
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I agree that "heat lightning" typically seems to be silent.
>
> Perhaps meteorologists are eschewing the term because it seems to imply some outmoded caloric theory of its nature.
>
> JL
>
> sagehen <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM> wrote: ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society
> Poster:       sagehen
>
> Subject:      Re: dry lightning
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >OED mentions _heat lightning_ (the kind unaccompanied by rain in your
> >vicinity) but offers no supporting cites.
> >
> >  My grandparents used _heat lightning_.
> >
> >  My reading of Springsteen's "dry lightning" is that it refers -
> >poetically or not - to heat lightning. Reichmuth's definition is different.
> >
> >  JL
> ~~~~~~~~~
> My understanding of "heat lightning" is that it is either cloud-to-cloud
> (no visible bolt) that occurs in the absence of rain, or it is lightning of
> any type occurring over the horizon and only visible  as reflected light
> from nearer, higher clouds.  The accompanying thunder would reach the
> observer so much later -- perhaps 50 seconds or more -- if at all, that it
> might not seem to be associated  with the lightning.
> AM
>
>  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> W stands for >:<  War ____Waste___Wiretaps____Witchhunts  >:<
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
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