If lightning travels faster than thunder, which comes first, silence or clear skies?

if lightning travels faster than thunder... which comes first, silence or clear skies?If lightning travels faster than thunder, which comes first, silence or clear skies?
that has nothing to do with the speed of light and sound. Of course silence first, thunder will end before a storm is even finished. And there could still be completely blackened skiesIf lightning travels faster than thunder, which comes first, silence or clear skies?
A lightning bolt has come close to me twice in life and both times I was swimming in the water, one a big creek in Ohio and one a large pond in Georgia. I am an electrician so am used to being shocked on rare occasions but the first thing you feel is a surge but since you are swimming in the conductor then the charge diminished and you are helpless and then the bolt hits a tree near you and then you hear the thunderclap. Then get the heck out of Dodge and do not care about being stung by stingy metal or bitten by snakes.
I've always found the lightning goes away before the thunder. But the thunder stops before the storm stops and we get clear skies.