Created By : Naaz Fatima

Reviewed By : Phani Ponnapalli

Last Updated : Apr 10, 2023


Take he help of our free Lighting Distance Calculator tool to compute the storm distance or time between the flash and thunder easily. Just provide the time between the thunder and flash or store distance details in the given input fields. Hit the calculate button to get the output in a fraction of seconds.

Choose a Calculation
Time between flash and thunder:

How to Calculate Lightning Distance?

Get the simple and manual steps to find the Lightning distance easily.

  • Get the time to notice the storm and thunder
  • Multiply the time by speed of sound in air
  • Product is the storm distance value.

Lightning Distance Formula

Lightning distance is how far away is lightning. The method of counting the seconds between the lightning and thunder is called the flash to bang technique.

The simple method to find the storm distance is count the number of seconds you hear the thunder. Divide the number of seconds by 3 to get the distance in kilometers.

The formula to calculate the storm distance is along the lines:

storm_distance = time * sound_speed

The formula to calculate the time = storm_distance/sound_speed

Where,

time is the number of seconds between noticing the flash and the thunder.

Speed of sound is 343 m/s

Example

Question: If the time between the flash and thunder is 28 s, what is the storm distance?

Solution:

Given that

The time between flash and thunder = 28

Speed of sound = 343 m/s

storm_distance = time * sound_speed

= 28 x 343

= 9604 m

= 9.604 km

Therefore, the lightning distance is 9.604 km.

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FAQ's on Lightning Distance Calculator

1. How to find the storm distance?

Four simple steps to calculate the lightning distance is watch the sky for flash, count the number of seconds you hear the storm, calculate the distance from lightning by dividing the time by 3 to get the result in miles.


2. What is the speed of sound in air?

The constant speed of sound in air is 343 m/s.


3. What is the formula to calculate the lightning distance in km?

The formula to find the lightning distance is storm_distance = time * speed_of_sound.


4. What is the approximate storm distance if the thunder time is 18 seconds?

Time = 18 seconds

Divide the time by 5 to get lightning distance in km.

lightning distance = 18/5

lightning distance = 3.6 km.