Ball Lightning Video Evidence

[Jeff Miller]

With the advent of video technology, and YouTube allowing people to post videos free, more and more videos of things once thought rare are surfacing up. And Ball Lightning is one of those categories.

A couple of videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnZrtQvGWLg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSH7eBlQ9NU

These show some very impressive displays of what definately appears to be ball lightning. If indeed these are authentic displays of genuine ball lightning, a lot of questions have to be raised.

What dictates the speed of ball lightning?
What dictates the size of the plasma ball?
Can ball lightning be predictable in the future?
Does ball lightning take a specific set of paramaters (like tornadoes require a specific set)?

The second video in particular I find extremely interesting. Orbs, perfectly globular, traversing near and around the parent storm. Also an extremely bright "sprite" or "jet" shoots out at high speed above the storm at one particular point. I am not completely convinced we are looking at genuine ball lightning, but I am at a loss at what else I could hypothesize this to be. If indeed it is, I am amazed at firstly their longevity, second, the constant rate of speed (does not slow down or speed up) and finally, the straight-ness of their path, even directly into a storm, seemingly unaffected by storm-relative effects. Fascinating.

I realize a lot of these questions cannot be answered now, as some continue to doubt even the existence of this phenomenon.This is raised to allow people to think. If you can find any worthy ball lightning videos, please post them here as well.

 

[Kevin Bowman]

it kinda looks like a airplane to me, especially since its coming around the storm then moving away

the first video i dont know what htat is but i doubt its ball lightning, i doubt someone would just stand there and not move away from it like that person in the video did. there also looks to be wires haning around.

 

[Dave Gallaher]

I recall reading about an experiment where someone created 'ball lightning' indoors using a huge battery from an old diesel/electric submarine. The leads would be shorted over a pan of water, and ball lightning would skim over the surface and out of the pan. This may be what we are seeing in the first video.

 

[Rodney Harper]

The first one definately reminds me of someone welding over the camera. The particulates that are dropped from such can act pretty quirky. The second I have no idea about unless someone did some timely chopping to the vid. I dont see that though.

 

[Dan Robinson]

The first video is of molten metal droplets bouncing off of pavement. I have seen this happen in person. If you've ever put a couple of drops of water in a hot saucepan, it acts the same way - rolling and bouncing along.

The second video is of an aircraft (most likely a helicopter).

Videos like these being attributed to ball lightning is one of the main reasons I believe it most likely does not exist. I used to run a ball lightning reports web site, but I shut it down after 99% of the reports I got were describing power line arcs. Everything I've seen being claimed as ball lightning is either car headlights, aircraft, or power flashes.

As 'common' as ball lightning is reported to be, I really believe that most storm chasers, who observe storms constantly and fervently, should be seeing it on a regular basis - especially those of us who are more focused on lightning.

 

[Brian Emfinger]

As 'common' as ball lightning is reported to be, I really believe that most storm chasers, who observe storms constantly and fervently, should be seeing it on a regular basis - especially those of us who are more focused on lightning.

Nailed it on the head there. I immediately thought the first video was someone welding and the second video is definately aircraft of some sort.... anything that moves in mostly straight lines like that tends to be man made.

 

[Paul Knightley]

Whilst I believe there is strong evidence for ball lightning out there, I don't believe that these two videos have anything to with it. The 1st looks very like welding, whilst the second is obviously featuring aircraft of some description.

 

[Jeff Miller]

I had indeed thought about it being aircraft... and some of the comments on the video indicate that, however I was confused by the "globular" structure of the "orb". Then with this being the case, I would assume it would be sunglint or something.

Thanks for filling me on on this. Im intently fascinated by ball lightning, and am wondering if it really does exist and real video is really out there.

Thank you for the comments.

 

[Tom Stefanac]

Here is challenge!

Someone who is technically inclined should try and make ball lightning without killing themselves!!!

What are the ingredients for ball lightning as theorized? Plasma?

 

[David Drummond]

The first one definately reminds me of someone welding over the camera. The particulates that are dropped from such can act pretty quirky. The second I have no idea about unless someone did some timely chopping to the vid. I dont see that though.

That was the first thought I had. Whatever was "burning" in those balls definitely had some mass to it. You could see it bounce off the cord on the floor. Some sort of material burning off.

 

[Gene Moore]

As already discussed, no ball lightning in these videos just airplanes flying by a distant storm. As for the welding, the burning slag seems to last quite a long time....maybe the floor has some kind of coating on it to allow the burning to continue. You can see the grounding strap clamped to the bottom of the table. Also, consider the bright flash might have burned an impression in the camera’s sensor long enough for the camera to be moved and they remain on the image....I've see this with very close lightning bolts.

On this subject I'll mention that I know of two very interesting stories of ball like lightning and electricity rolling around on the ground prior to a tornadic thunderstorm. One instance was the before the Blackwell F-5 tornado in 1955. Back when I was dong TV weather I gave a talk in that area and many of the locals told the same story about the ground glowing with crawling electricity. Also, extreme electrical activity was documented with that supercell.

Another such incident occurred with a meteorologist chaser I knew from OU. He stated that he saw something similar before a tornadic storm in SE Nebraska. The ground glowed purple with electricity crawling across the surface. It sounds like strong potential being set up between ground and the anvil of the approaching storm much like corona discharge before a lightning strike, but in the case it's on the ground. I've chased for 36 years and watched severe storms for much longer (grew up in Tulsa). I have yet to see anything like this in my lifetime.

Here is a link to the Blackwell Udall tornadoes:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/wxevents/19550525/

Gene Moore

 

[Stuart Robinson]

I was on that HUGE Supercell in New Mexico (June 4th 2003, Clovis) – that one that has terrific inflow dust if any one recalls?

Anyway just after crossing the surface inflow jet I then turned towards the storm (so now I am driving in the direction of the wind). I was somewhat shocked to see a white blue ball of light cross right in front of the Van , from right to left about 10 feet off the ground – I watched it for about 2 seconds. Thinking to my self “that looks strange?” two other people who I were with me in the car immediately said that they saw the same thing too!

IMO this was ball lightning – it is a real shame, but I powered off the forward facing dash cam just seconds before and therefore missed the event.

What I still find curious to this day was that the ball was travelling a right angles to the wind inflow – which was estimated to be 50 mph plus.

A strange days chasing that day…

 

[Gerrit Gulden]

Originally Posted by Dan Robinson
Videos like these being attributed to ball lightning is one of the main reasons I believe it most likely does not exist.

Im glad Im not the only one who believes Ball Lightning doesnt exist. On another forum I posted a question about Ball Lightning such as = Can Ball Lightning be a Defect in Photographic Equipment to where a certain Object reflected directly towards the camera lens and in turn the exposure of lightning turns out as Suspected Ball Lightning photographs do?

Ive seen alot of photos, some indeed appear to be true. So I can say I defientely dont know if Ball Lightning is real or not. But as far as debate goes, Im sure many of us can question Ball Lightning being real or not.

-gerrit