Volcanic Lightning Is An Electrical Discharge Caused By A Volcanic Eruption, Rather Than From An Ordinary Thunderstorm. Stock Photography

Volcanic lightning arises from colliding, fragmenting particles of volcanic ash and sometimes ice, which generate static electricity within the volcanic plume. Volcanic eruptions have been referred to as dirty thunderstorms due to moist convection and ice formation that drive the eruption plume dynamics and can trigger volcanic lightning. But unlike ordinary thunderstorms, volcanic lightning can also occur before any ice crystals have formed in the ash cloud.nnThe earliest recorded observations of volcanic lightning are from Pliny the Younger, describing the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, `There was a most intense darkness rendered more appalling by the fitful gleam of torches at intervals obscured by the transient blaze of lightning.