is there any such thing as heat lightning
The actual phenomenon commonly called heat lightning is simply cloud-to-ground lightning that occurs very far away, with thunder that dissipates before it reaches the observer. At night, it is possible to see the flashes of lightning from very far distances, up to 100 miles (160 kilometres), but the sound does not carry that far. In Florida, this type of lightning is often seen over the water at night, the remnants of storms that formed during the day along a sea breeze front coming in from the opposite coast.
Heat lightning