From similarity and differences of morphological, biochemical, cellular characteristics, biologist have constructed 'phylogenetic (evolutionary) trees' (who is most closely related to who, analogous to a family tree)
In the United States, lightning routinely kills more people each year than tornadoes or hurricanes. Tornadoes, hail, and wind gusts get the most attention, but only lightning can strike outside the storm itself. Lightning is the first thunderstorm hazard to arrive and the last to leave.
Normally, however, the result is rain, wind, lightning, and thunder. Without lightning, there would be no thunder in thunderstorm.. Thunder is the noise lightning makes as it travels through the air. Lightning occurs during all thunderstorms (though not every time it rains). During a storm, it strikes Earth 100 times each second. More than just a dazzling light show, lightning causes billions of dollars in damage each year. Lightning forms when updrafts of air carry water droplets, which have a charge, upward to heights where some freeze into ice and snow particles. They form a cloud.