NOAA safety posters say lightning can strike 10 miles away from a thunderstorm. Is this true?
Yes, it is true. Lightning that strikes away from a thunderstorm are often called “bolts from the blue.” Lightning has its own agenda. It is random and unpredictable, and defies our attempts to fit it into a convenient box to describe its behavior. We don’t really know why it sometimes connects with the ground and not a tree, or a beach instead of the water.
