[wfme]

> In ensuing decades, high altitude electrical discharges were reported by aircraft pilots and discounted by meteorologists until the first direct visual evidence was documented in 1989.

From your link.

[wfme]

It was in response to your original, unedited comment: "Pretty well understood" or something to that effect.

My point is that discounting historical accounts with a link to current information is neither particularly useful nor interesting.

IMO it is much more interesting to understand how our understanding has changed over time.