Some facts, reactions to thunder, lightning

You might not know this about thunder:

“Thunder is created when lightning passes through the air,” according to the National Weather Service. “The lightning discharge heats the air rapidly and causes it to expand. The temperature of the air in the lightning channel may reach as high as 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, five times hotter than the surface of the sun. Immediately after the flash, the air cools and contracts quickly. This rapid expansion and contraction create the sound wave that we hear as thunder.”

The unusually intense lightning storm that marched through the region late Monday night...