I am an advid lover of swimming and have spent 15 years of my life traveling all over the nation competing in the sport. I am also an animal lover, especially dogs and love any thing dealing with the outdoors such hiking and camping. I am currently a health science major hoping to go into physical therapy. Forked lightning occurs when a second lightning stroke doesn't follow the same path as the first lightning stroke. Thus, it appears forked.
Lightning can also appear strange looking when it forms some thing called ribbon lightning.
This makes it appear ribbon like.