Cage

what kind of lightning looks like a bird cage from below?

when I was young i saw a flash of lightning that never left the clouds. it looked like "looking up into a bird cage with no bottom". what was it? I do not remember hearing thunder either. it seemed very high and was directly above me also it was very brief. it appeared bell shaped with many (15-20) ribs originating from a central point and then simply dissapearing toward the edges, all equal in length. hope that helps. fyi, thunder is caused by the shockwave of air displaced by plasma created in a lightning strike whether or not it strikes the ground. At least thats my understanding....

Public Comments

1. Describe it a little better. Do you mean with the main bolt in the middle, going out in every direction like the spokes in a wheel? I'll update my answer if you add some details. If that's what you saw then I think you've just witnessed your first glimpse of space lightning. In reality a lot of lightning actually comes from Space, but I call your bird cage lightning "space lightning" because it very obviously comes from space. The main current hits the middle of the cloud, and it's so massive that it travels out in every direction to disperse itself as quickly as possible. People believe that thunder is caused by the the intense heat of lightning causing the air to expand rapidly, but this isn't the truth. The Earth has natural electric fields that vary at certain elevations, areas of special geologic interest, and around weather phenomena. When the lightning comes in it is very intense and of a much greater charge difference, and the air molecules instantly begin absorbing the energy. They try to push themselves to the distance they would normally be from each other at this higher or lower charge. If the lightning charge gets sucked out of the bolt quickly enough, then you won't even get to hear the lightning because the air didn't have enough time to expand and cause a shockwave. So how do we know this energy comes from space, and isn't something local like all the scientists with big fancy degrees say it is? Well first off all, even after they "explain everything" to you, they always ALWAYS finish it all off with "but we still need to do more research." This is because they DON'T know how it works, but nature doesn't need you to know before it shows you. http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e397/Bigpappadiaz/discharge.gif This is a picture of blue jets, sprites and elves, and shows you at what elevations they occure. Elves are glowing rings that ripple across our ionosphere. The ionosphere is the outermost boundary of Earth's electric field, and after that it's all space baby. The energy transfers that allow us to see these events don't always have to be visible. A lot of time this energy moves around invisibly, only when it's strong enough does it make itself visible.
2. That kind of lightning are usually called cloud to clud lightning, and occurs at very high altitudes between clouds at different altitudes (1,000 ft,). there's no thunder because the charges are not making ground like when they touch earth.