Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-26397825-20160528034745/@comment-24534644-20160529170743

Lightning is the result of electric charges from both the clouds and the ground collecting at one point in each location and then rushing to meet one another once they build up enough. That's what I seem to remember from school. But considering the vastly greater distance that the charges in the clouds have to travel, it really isn't inaccurate to say that lightning comes down to the earth.