Heat lightning, also known as silent lightning, summer lightning, or dry lightning, is a misnomer used for the faint flashes of lightning on the horizon or other clouds from distant thunderstorms that do not appear to have accompanying sounds of thunder. The actual phenomenon that is sometimes called heat lightning is simply cloud-to-ground lightning that occurs very far away, with thunder that dissipates before it reaches the observer. At night, it is possible to see the flashes of lightning from very far distances, up to, but the sound does not carry that far. In Florida, this type of lightning is often seen over the water at night, the remnants of storms that formed during the day along a sea breezefront coming in from the opposite coast. Heat lightning is not to be confused with electrically-induced luminosity actually generated at mesospheric altitudes above thunderstorm systems, a phenomenon known as "sprites".
Cloud-to-ground lightning
The movement of sound inthe atmosphere depends on the properties of the air, such as temperature and density. Because temperature and density change with height, the sound of thunder is refracted through the troposphere. This refraction results in spaces through which the thunder does not propagate. The sound of thunder often reflects off the Earth's surface. The rumbling sound is partly due to these reflections. This reflection and refraction can leave voids where thunder cannot be heard. The Earth's curvature also contributes to distant observers not hearing the thunderclap. Thunder is more likely to reflect off the Earth's surface before it reaches an observer far from the strike, and only the right refraction and reflection of the sound off of the atmosphere will give it the range it needs to be heard far away. The reflection and refraction in the troposphere determines who hears the strike and who doesn't. Usually, the troposphere will reflect the light, and leave out the sound - in these cases some fraction of the light emanating from distant thunderstorms is scattered by the upper atmosphere and thus visible to remote observers. Under optimum conditions, the most intense thunderstorms can be seen at up to over flat terrain or water when the clouds are illuminated by large lightning discharges. However, an upper limit of is more common due to topography, trees on the horizon, low to mid-level clouds, and the fact that local visibilities are generally no more than. The height of the anvil also contributes— is very common in the mid latitudes for warm-season thunderstorms, but the anvil height can range from to a current record of.
