And I have actually studied meteorology, and I can tell you that lightening is no where near even half of the speed of light.
What you are talking about falls along the lines of neurophysiology of visual perception, when is explained properly by the last poster here:
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The remaining here:
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In physics, it's a basic fact that lightning is an electrical discharge. What you are talking about is the "flash of light" that precedes lightning. That isn't lightning, but the expansion of gases from where the lightning passes. The gases are heated by lightning, as it can increase the T by several thousand K. That releases an EM radiation, which lightwaves are a part of. That travels at the speed of light, not the bolt itself.
That expansion creates a vaccum and a zero pressure area. When the air rushes back in to stabilize the pressure Zone, that results in a massive shockwave we call thunder. I mean, how can electrons even travel at the speed of light? And what about the speed of sound link? Lightning obviously travels faster than the speed of sound, which sits at Mach 1, when the slowest recorded lightning is at mach 4, and highest at mach 45.