See cloud to cloud lighting. One example of not going from ground to cloud.
The ground usually holds the positive charge. Electricity is negative. Thus, it goes from cloud to ground.
However, because opposites attract, there is a charge going from ground to cloud, but that's only after the cloud>ground happens, sort of like a return feedback.
http://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/580/why-does-lightning-strike-from-the-ground-up
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The answer is both. Cloud-to-ground lightning comes from the sky down, but the part you see comes from the ground up. A typical cloud-to-ground flash lowers a path of negative electricity (that we cannot see) towards the ground in a series of spurts. Objects on the ground generally have a positive charge. Since opposites attract, an upward streamer is sent out from the object about to be struck. When these two paths meet, a return stroke zips back up to the sky. It is the return stroke that produces the visible flash...
http://stormhighway.com/does_lightning_travel_upward_or_downward.php
This link is better at explaining with its gif.
I still maintain my position that lightning is cloud to ground because it's initiated from the cloud. The ground's feelers are in reaction to the charges from the cloud.
The ground usually holds the positive charge. Electricity is negative. Thus, it goes from cloud to ground.
However, because opposites attract, there is a charge going from ground to cloud, but that's only after the cloud>ground happens, sort of like a return feedback.
http://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/580/why-does-lightning-strike-from-the-ground-up
-
The answer is both. Cloud-to-ground lightning comes from the sky down, but the part you see comes from the ground up. A typical cloud-to-ground flash lowers a path of negative electricity (that we cannot see) towards the ground in a series of spurts. Objects on the ground generally have a positive charge. Since opposites attract, an upward streamer is sent out from the object about to be struck. When these two paths meet, a return stroke zips back up to the sky. It is the return stroke that produces the visible flash...
This link is better at explaining with its gif.
I still maintain my position that lightning is cloud to ground because it's initiated from the cloud. The ground's feelers are in reaction to the charges from the cloud.
I have no idea what I'm trying to say