How do you know how far away a thunderstorm is?

You’ve probably woken up more than once at night due to the noise caused by thunder. storm. And, most likely, at that time you wanted it to stop once and for all, either because the sound prevents you from falling asleep, or because you simply don’t like hearing this noise at night.

If this is your case, don’t worry because there is a way to check for sure. how far is your pesky storm and, more importantly, is it still approaching or is it already in the process of moving away from where you are.

HOW FAR IS THE STORM FROM YOU?

As you know, in physics the speed of sound in air is a well-known constant: 343.2 meters per second. The word air is emphasized because it slows down in different environments, such as water or materials. However, during a thunderstorm, even if it is raining, sound travels through the air, so its speed continues to approach 343 m/s. Now, since light has a much greater speed since it moves with 300,000 kilometers per secondWhen a thunderstorm occurs and an electrical discharge occurs, the first thing you notice is the light it emits, and then you hear thunder. This will take more or less depending on the distance the storm is located.

The secret life of a thunderstorm

Therefore, knowing the speed of sound propagation, we can easily find out at what distance is it located?. Thus, we must first of all take into account that the moment when we see lightning is the moment when an electrical discharge has occurred. So at this point we must count the seconds They pass until we hear the roar and pay attention to it. Thus, since the distance traveled can be calculated by multiplying the speed by the time taken for this journey, and 343 m/s is equal to 0.343 km/s, which is approximately equal to the result of one third (1/3), then only we need to replace the following expression:

Distance = number of seconds/3

For example, if there is a nine-second time gap between lightning and thunder, the thunderstorm will be 3 kilometers away, but if you hear thunder and see lightning at the same time, the thunderstorm will be directly above you.

How to protect yourself from a thunderstorm?

IS IT CLOSER OR FAR?

It makes sense that if you know the distance a storm is located, knowing whether it is moving away or approaching is as easy as repeat the calculation repeatedly. In fact, experts point out that simply two calculations, 2 minutes apart, are more than enough to accurately know the direction of a thunderstorm: if the second distance obtained is shorter, it is closer, and if it is older, then it is closer. Leaves.

Following the same reasoning that we just gave, it is also possible that with a little calculation you can find out the time which, if approached, it will take a storm to reach the point where you are. For example, if you do the first calculation and find that the storm is 20 kilometers away from you, but in the second measurement, 2 minutes later, it is only 10 kilometers away, you can easily conclude that it is moving 10 kilometers every 2 minutes. , so delivery to you will take another 2 minutes.