[Gandalf_The_Gray]

upward-initiated discharges are "relatively rare," accounting for less than 1% of all lightning, "and generally occur from mountain tops and tall man-made structures."

I remember some thirty years ago seeing similar pictures. Some crazy researchers were firing small solid fueled rockets straight up into thunderheads. The rockets were trailing a small wire (like a wire guided missile) which was attached to the launch rail. The result being an immediate return stroke to a targeted location.

Very simple and very easy but kids, DON'T try this at home. I believe they were studying high energy plasma discharges. There was no branching in their photos, the return stroke came straight as an arrow to ground, vaporizing the wire (and parts of the launch rail!) in the process.

Regards,
GtG

[dsrtsage]

I’ve been outside in numerous sudden lightning storms in the desert. And when one strikes close, it is quite different than your normal thunder. Rather than a long deep boom, it is a quick sharp loud crack. One struck us so close one time that the flash burned red in my cornea and the crack was deafening. You can smell the ozone, and the air feels tingly. I have also been out at times where though there wasn’t active lightning happening, you could actually hear the earth crackling like a power line because the static charge was so ridiculously high. One time while out in a snow storm, even with everybodies hair soaking wet, nevertheless everyones hair was sticking straight out like they had their hands on a vandegraff generator. Cool stuff.

[Squidpup]

Isn’t that how Benjamin Franklin met his demise?