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What happens when to lightning when it is coming towards the ground?

User Alvin SIU
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The answer is both. Cloud-to-ground lightning comes from the sky down, but the part you see comes from the ground up. A typical cloud-to-ground flash lowers a path of negative electricity (that we cannot see) towards the ground in a series of spurts. When these two paths meet, a return stroke zips back up to the sky.

Hope this helps.
User Ivan Koshelev
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