Met Mailbag is your chance to have a Weather Plus Meteorologist answer your weather question. Each Thursday, our NBC Weather Pulse Blog will publish the answers to questions you send us. This week's question was answered by NBC Weather Plus meteorologist Kristen Cornett.

Question: Can Thunder Occur Without Lightning?
Submitted by M. Ritland, Huxley, Iowa

Answer: Thanks for the great question!

Thunder can never occur without lightning. Thunder is a direct result of the lightning itself.

See, the temperature of a lightning bolt is 30-50 thousand degrees.

When that bolt heats the air around it at such a rapid pace, the air expands causing a shock wave which we hear as thunder.

If you are close to the lightning, you'll hear it as a sharp crack while if you are farther away, it sounds more like a rumble.

Thanks again for your question!