How can you measure the distance of a storm ?

- July 31, 2020 at 2:56 pm
  
  Akismet
  Subscriber
  
  How can you measure the distance of a storm ?
- July 31, 2020 at 2:57 pm
  
  Ashish Khemka
  Forum Moderator
  
  You can count the seconds between seeing a lightning and then hearing the thunder. For examples if 5 seconds elap the storm would be about 1.7Km (1.05 miles) away.
- July 31, 2020 at 2:57 pm
  
  Akismet
  Subscriber
  
  ?️That's cool! How do you calculate that ?
- July 31, 2020 at 2:57 pm
  
  prajput
  Ansys Employee
  
  At sea level the speed of sound in air is about 340 m/s. The speed of light is much much higher than that (about 300,000 kilometers per second!). So you will first see ? the light of the lightning and then you will hear ?️ the sound that arrives at lower speed.
  Because of that you can count the seconds elapsing and then multiply by 340 to get the distance between you and the storm in meters.
  Of course this is a simple approximation, since the speed of sound can change with the air conditions.