Lightning and hurricanes seem to be similar charge rebalancing processes. Lightning mostly occurs above continents and is far less frequent above oceans.¹ This may be due to the difference between ground conductivity and sea conductivity. When electrons start flowing upwards from the ocean, the high conductivity of salt water² usually prevents the formation of electron-deficient regions, which is one of the causes of lightning. However, when the upward electron flow occurs above a continent, the poor conductivity of the ground³ enables the formation of electron-deficient pockets that will trigger and receive lightning discharges.

In terms of location, hurricanes are the opposite of lightning bolts: they mostly occur above oceans and usually weaken or die when they reach land. When a massive flow of electrons is pulled up above the ocean, the high conductivity of salt water can provide and conduct free electrons from all adjacent regions, thus offering an almost endless supply of electrons to power the ongoing hurricane. When the hurricane reaches the ground, the electron supply is limited by the poor conductivity of the ground and the hurricane weakens.

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Notice also that the rainfall that usually accompanies hurricanes also participates in the charge re-balancing process.

When a water drop falls to the ground, it can capture electrons from the bottom of the cloud or below it, thus carrying a negative charge to the ground and rebalancing electric potential differences in a manner similar to lightning. From this perspective, lightning and rain are both caused by a strong atmospheric E-field and both lead to a charge rebalancing between the Earth's surface and its atmosphere.

Notice that the atmospheric field has an influence on raindrops formation and size. In the image below,⁴ a thin water jet was created by a hypodermic needle connected to a water faucet. On the left, no electric field was applied. The jet took the form of a mist made of small droplets. On the right, an electric field was applied to the water jet, triggering the binding of droplets with each other and the subsequent formation of large water drops. This experiment is very similar to what occurs in clouds, where water droplets tend to align along the atmospheric E-field and attract each other, forming heavier and heavier water drops.

© Pierce Bounds
Influence of electric field on the size of water drops.

From the above we can see that lightning and hurricanes are very similar electric phenomena. Hurricanes are to sea surface what lightning bolts are to ground surface. They are both caused by upward electron flows and they both rebalance electric charges by returning electrons to the ground: rainfall in the case of hurricanes, lightning in the case of electrical storms.

Before closing this chapter, a few further comments about atmospheric dust are necessary: as we've seen previously, atmospheric dust plays a major role in storm dynamics. On a physical level it acts as a nucleus for the formation of condensed water droplets (clouds). On an electrical level it holds electric charges that can trigger lightning.

Atmospheric dust also seems able to modulate cloud elevation. According to mainstream science, atmospheric dust and water droplets stay in suspension in the atmosphere because of their very small size, exhibiting low weight and comparatively large drag.⁵ However, some observations don't fit the gravity-drag model and, in some cases, dust clouds settle much slower than predicted:

Interestingly, it appears that some hitherto unknown atmospheric process counteracts gravitational settling of larger atmospheric dust particles (Maring et al., 2003), as models of long-range dust transport often underestimate the larger particle fraction (Colarco et al., 2003, Ginoux et al., 2001), and dust samples collected after fallout events show that large numbers of 'giant' dust particles (larger than 62.5 micrometers) can be carried thousands of kilometers from their source (Middleton et al., 2001).⁶⁷

If you remember the Millikan experiment⁸, a droplet charged with only one electron can counteract gravity and literally levitate when exposed to a vertical electric field. For this to happen, the vertical electric field has to be 32,100 v/m.⁹ Although the atmospheric electric field is normally about 100 v/m at ground level,¹⁰ atmospheric dust or atmospheric droplets, because they reduce conductivity, can drastically increase this value. Electric fields of 2,000 v/m have been measured under dust storms,¹¹ up to 20,000 v/m has been observed under thunderstorms¹² and up to 200,000 v/m within thunderstorms.¹³ In addition, unlike the Millikan experiment, some particles can carry more than one electron charge.

This means that the atmospheric electric field can play a role in the fall speed, location, movement and elevation of clouds whether they are made of dust or droplets (or both). It can cause the particles to 'levitate' or literally rise up in the air.

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