Thread:RadianceQ/@comment-24383490-20171013040810/@comment-24383490-20171026053021

Here is another reply about the lightning speed:

"Hey there dug up some better studies.

Have at them:

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=D4862F763A4196979F07E07DA6B89E01?doi=10.1.1.589.8160&rep=rep1&type=pdf                                             https://www.researchgate.net/publication/47738170_Does_the_average_downward_speed_of_a_lightning_leader_change_as_it_approaches_the_ground_-_An_observational_approachhttps://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1412/1412.3537.pdf

These are all properly cited and have stated averages along with being newer (thx to DontTalk for reminding me to use more trustworthy sources!).

From what I've seen, right now we have 4+ studies stating that the average is around 2.0-3.0x10^5 m/s, 2 stating that the average is around 4.4x10^5 m/s (the Harvard one we're using now and the newer 2007 Chinese one), and 1 stating a really extreme case of an average of 12x10^5 m/s. That added to the college lecture stating an even lower average speed, which is also supported by the other sources where 200000 mph is given, leads me to believe that 4.40x10^5 m/s is the result gotten from more extreme samples instead of the other way around."