Talk:Dry lightning

Heat lightning
Is dry lightning the same thing as heat lightning? It would seem to me they kind of share some things in common (both misnomers) but heat lightning refers to lightning without sound (and possibly rain) whereas dry lightning refers to lightning without rain, but maybe with sound? Anyone? Since they are both misnomers perhaps it would be innacurate to say they are the same thing, but maybe linking the articles or combining them might not be a bad idea? MDuchek 01:41, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

I have the same question, but I added links to each other in the meantime. I think basically they're the same, but just referring to slightly different circumstances. Like variations of the same thing. I'd eventually like to see both of these articles combined, but I won't do anything yet. Sporlo (talk) 01:08, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Dry lightning and heat lightning are similar but different. Dry lightning is directly associated with low precipitation thunderstorms in the Western US. The storms produce rain but most or all of the rain evaporates before reaching the ground, dry lightning refers to the lack of rain produced by the storm. Heat lightning is usually associated with summer evenings and nights when many people are outside enjoying warm summer temps. Light travels much more than the sounds of thunder due to many factors, temps, air density, topography, etc... Also most heat lightning is from cloud-cloud or sheet lighting higher up in the clouds. Heat lightning occurs miles away from the storms so viewers experience no precipitation or other attributes of the storms.--Bhockey10 (talk) 08:06, 5 June 2008 (UTC)


 * I concur. They are entirely different.  A dry lightning storm can be directly above you, and you will certainly hear the thunder.  Heat lightning is essentially distant lightning, too distant for the sound to reach you.  And it's possible that wherever that distant storm is, plenty of rain is reaching the ground. Tmangray (talk) 16:40, 24 June 2008 (UTC)

Dry thunderstorm
I have created an article: Dry thunderstorm. It should not be merged with this article because lightning can be produced by pyrocumulous clouds, which are NOT part of a thunderstorm. -- IRP (talk) 00:17, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

I have revised the article. Please post here if you revert it, and watch the page for my replies. -- IRP (talk) 23:12, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

Misnomer
I think calling it a technical misnomer is incorrect. It is a misnomer if you interpret dry lightning to mean that the lightning itself is dry, however that's far from the only interpretation of the expression, and in my view not even the most obvious one. It seems to me that the term is just used to signify lightning occurring when the surrounds are dry - as opposed to normal lightning which is commonly understood to occur near a lot of moistute (rain). The fact that the lightning itself isn't dry/wet doesn't really have anything to do with it. Similarly, it's not suggesting that the dry lightning is not associated with any moisture whatsoever - just not in close proximity when compared to normal lightning.

To put it simply - you walk down the street, it is raining heavily and you see lightning - or you walk down the street, there is no rain and you see lightning. This is the main distinction between the two. Hence, the dry lightning is called dry because it is not associated with rain around it. Therefore it is not a misnomer, because the term dry clearly and accurately describes the significant observed difference, and it is not a misinterpretation of anything.

All the explanation we have for why dry lightning occurs and how there is often moisture higher up is great for the article, but it doesn't make the name a misnomer.

Anyone care to defend this? --124.171.223.158 (talk) 17:26, 9 November 2009 (UTC)