LIGHTNING DISCHARGES AND EZ. “If you go look up in the skies sometimes you can see another example of a charged battery. Basically, what you have up there is water 80% of lightning flashes are between water and water. The potential difference between these is… a few thousand kilovolts.”
http://www.caims.ca/news/2011-nerenberg-lecture-fourth-phase-water-gerald-pollack