#France (29 June 2024) That was probably a positive #flash. I doubt a normal lightning bolt would have been able to vaporize an entire tree trunk like this, they often just debark the the tree and crack it.

Positive lightning makes up less than 5% of all strikes. However, despite a significantly lower rate of occurrence, positive #lightning is particularly dangerous for several reasons. Since it originates in the upper levels of a storm, the amount of air it must burn through to reach the ground usually much greater.

Therefore, its electric field typically is much stronger than a negative strike. Its flash duration is longer, and its peak charge and potential can be ten times greater than a negative strike; as much as 300,000 amperes and one billion volts!

Hug a tree today. You never know if it will be gone tomorrow.

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