Every day I am hearing about a couple of homes going up in flames from cloud to ground lightning in C FL. So, I have a question for the knowledgable here:

Does cloud to ground lightning just happen and the bolt goes where it goes till it finally gets grounded? Or, as the bolt approaches the ground can it be manipulated to strike somewhere other than the destination it chose as it left the clouds?

I understand lightning protection is available.. but what I am more interested in is whether that bolt will generally seek a higher object to hit like a house roof or tree that might be 50 feet from its projection or is it going to strike exactly the pinpoint course it left the cloud with, irregardless where that is on the ground, high or low?

Thanks!