Lightning storms produce some of the most beautiful images in nature. Here are 16 lightning images with different styles, focuses and wild nature impacts.

The most commonly observed form of  lightning is streak lightning. This is nothing more than the return stroke, the visible part of the lightning stroke.

Cloud-to-ground lightning

The  second most common type of lightning. Of all the different types of lightning, it poses the greatest threat to life and property since it strikes the ground.

Bead lightning

Bead lightning is a type of cloud-to-ground lightning which appears to break up into a string of short, bright sections.

Ribbon lightning

Ribbon lightning occurs in thunderstorms with high cross winds and multiple return strokes. The wind blows each successive return stroke slightly to one side of the previous return stroke, causing a ribbon effect.

Staccato lightning

Staccato lightning is a cloud to ground lightning strike which is a short-duration stroke that appears as a single very bright flash and often has considerable branching.

Forked lightning

Forked lightning is a name for cloud-to-ground lightning that exhibits branching of its path.

Ground-to-cloud lightning

Ground-to-cloud lightning is a lightning discharge between the ground and a cumulonimbus cloud initiated by an upward-moving leader stroke. Negatively charged ions called the stepped leader rise up from the ground and meet the positively charged ions in a cumulonimbus cloud. Then the strike goes back to the ground as the return stroke.

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Sheet lightning

Sheet lightning is an informally applied name to cloud-to-cloud lightning that exhibits a diffuse brightening of the surface of a cloud caused by the actual discharge path being hidden.

Heat lightning

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Lightning

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