Feature asks what the future holds for lightning as the world warms

Summary

A Guardian feature asks how people's experience and understanding of lightning may change in a warming world. It opens with a rock shelter in Kakadu national park in northern Australia, where an image of the being the Bininj people call Namarrkon shows him wielding a band of lightning. Namarrkon is one of the most important Bininj creation ancestors, and his journey from the coast to the Arnhem Land escarpment helped shape the landscape. During the build-up and the wet season, he splits the clouds with his stone axes to create thunder and lightning and release the life-giving rain.

Timeline

1. The Guardian

   7 Nov 2026, 14:00 UTCSource ↗

   The Guardian's feature Thunderstruck: what does the future hold for lightning? asks how the experience and understanding of lightning change in a warming world, starting with Namarrkon, the being the Bininj people associate with lightning and storms in Kakadu national park.