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What Causes ‘Thunder’ and How Far Away Is a Storm?

Thunder is the sound of lightning. When lightning strikes, it makes a big boom that we hear as thunder. If you count how long it takes between seeing lightning and hearing thunder, you can tell how far away the storm is! A simple game to play when it’s raining.

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Examples

  1. You see a flash of lightning and count to 10 before you hear the boom, that storm is about two miles away!
  2. During a summer storm, you can guess how far the lightning struck just by counting seconds between the flash and the sound.
  3. If thunder takes only 3 seconds to reach you after lightning strikes, it means the storm is less than one mile away.

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Categories: Science · Thunder,Storms,Sound Waves