Lightening & AM Radios

[Al Today]

Seeing all the lightening stories under the SOTT “The Living Planet” category this morning reminded me of an observation from last week. There was a rain/storm front passing through the area just before sunrise. That time of day I am usually found enjoying a good smoke and a hot cup of coffee. Playing with my AM/Weather radio, getting ready for the day. There was lightening around on as heard by the cracklingpfssst reception interference that occurs on AM radio. Ever notice that lightening can be “heard” on AM radio? I think that’s true? I also listened to the rumbling thunder aftershocks after hearing the AM radio interference, guessing how far away the lightening was by counting 1-Mississippi, 2-Mississippi, 3-Mississippi, etc.. I then notice the sound of thunder without any AM radio interference. I thought to myself, “now that’s different” and “how odd”. There was no cracklingpfssst reception interference, but I heard the rolling thunder, the pattern I was listening to was altered. Not unless the sound of thunder can “roll” hundreds of miles? Was this odd, no AM radio interference with thunder, or is there another explanation?
Oh... this is probably nothing, but this was a noticeable observation that “bothered” me.


http://www.sott.net/articles/show/152447-Malaysia-Soccer-player-struck-dead-by-lightning

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/152440-India-6-die-6-injured-in-lightning-strike

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/152439-Lightning-kills-4-soldiers-wounds-59-in-Sri-Lanka

 

[GRiM]

That was news to me so I did a search for the concept, here is what I found.
I dont think it adds very much to your post but here:

Concepts: thunderstorms, static electricity

Materials: AM radio w/ antenna, inflated rubber balloon

An AM radio makes an excellent lightning detector. During a thunderstorm you can listen in on individual lightning bolts on your AM radio. Tune the radio to a station and each crackling sound that you hear is from the radio waves emitted by a lightning bolt. You will notice that you hear the static crackle at the same moment you see a flash of lightning. This is because radio waves and visible light both travel at the speed of light. The sound of thunder travels at the speed of sound (about 1,000 feet per second) and thus lags behind the flash of light (or AM crackle)*. You will notice that there will be some lightning bolts that you detect that are not seen. These are lightning bolts that are high up in the thunderstorm cloud or even in another thunderstorm cell.

You can make your own lightning strikes (on a much smaller scale) and detect them on your AM radio. Tune your AM radio to a station with its antenna extended. Take an inflated balloon and rub it back and forth for awhile on your own clean, dry, oil-free hair (fur works well also). Slowly bring the balloon close to the antenna. You may need a quite classroom to hear the effect, but the static crackle becomes audible as you bring the balloon slowly near the antenna.

* You can use the time lag between lightning and thunder as an excellent way to judge the distance to the lightning. Count the seconds after you see the flash of lightning. Each second equals about 1,000 feet or five second equals about a mile. If you see the flash of lightning and then hear the thunder by the time you count to ten (or sooner) you are within two miles of the lightning and could be at some risk of getting a lightning strike!
webs.wichita.edu/facsme/lightning.htm

 

[Al Today]

Thanks for the supporting information GRiM...
That's my recollection on how lightening affects Am radio. I remember when cars had only AM radios, and used leaded gas. To this day the AM radio is still an excellent lightening detector.
I just wonder why I heard thunder, or think it's thunder with no AM radio interference?

 

[Iconoclast]

i used to listen to baseball games on armed forces radio back in the pre-internet days. you could hear a thunderstorm so far away that it wasn't even visible yet.

also - switching on lights (especially neon tubes) caused all kinds of interference with the AM signal.