What are the roles of static and current electricity in producing lightning?

This enormous electrical discharge is caused by an imbalance between positive and negative charges. During a storm, colliding particles of rain, ice, or snow increase this imbalance and often negatively charge the lower reaches of storm clouds. Objects on the ground, like steeples, trees, and the Earth itself, become positively charged-creating an imbalance that nature seeks to remedy by passing current between the two charges.