Lightning caught by Patria's photojournalist's lens

Lightning flashed across the sky above Bosnia and Herzegovina yesterday, accompanied by strong thunder. Some of these stunning natural scenes were captured by the photojournalist of the BiH news agency Patria, Armin Durgut, in the sky above Zenica.

According to Google, lightning is a visible discharge of atmospheric electricity that occurs when a certain area of the atmosphere becomes electrically charged or a potential difference arises that is sufficient to overcome the resistance of the air. It most often strikes from cumulonimbus storm clouds.

During a storm, lightning can appear within a cloud, between clouds, between a cloud and the air, and between a cloud and the ground. The loud crackling sound produced by lightning passing through the air is called thunder by experts.

Photo: Armin DURGUT/Patria

Thunder, or rumbling, also has its scientific explanation. It is a set of sounds that arise from successive thunderclaps or the scattered sound of distant thunder. Thunder is a consequence of the rapid expansion of the superheated air through which lightning is passing. It expands at the speed of sound, i.e., about 330 meters per second. From a sufficient distance, the flash of lightning is seen before the thunder or rumbling is heard, because the speed of light is greater than the speed of sound. The intensity of thunder measured in the vicinity of a strong lightning strike is about 120 decibels.

Meteorologists expect lightning and thunder again today in the sky above Bosnia and Herzegovina, writes Patria.