Green Lightning???

[Dan Robinson]

Green flashes from power arcs can uniformly illuminate a cloud base from below, and if it weren't for the color, would almost be indistingushable from lightning in the cases of those that don't 'linger'. During the St. Louis ice storm of December of 2006, oftentimes it was difficult to discern the exact direction that many of the power flashes were emanating from. In essence, all lightning channels emit the same 'color' of light. Power flashes are much more common in storms than one might first imagine. I observe them on a regular basis now that I am aware of them, and the green and turquoise flashes they produce are often near dead-ringers for in-cloud lightning flashes if it weren't for their color.

 

[Warren Faidley]

The green "ghost" bolts are the result of intra-lens reflections as noted. Because of coatings used for lenses, ghost bolts can be almost any color, depending on the angle of the lens to subject. You can also see these colors if you take a lens and allow sunlight to pass through it onto a white surface. What makes lightning look "colored" is what's between the lightning and the observer. For example, dust often makes it look red. Transformer strikes make green glows because copper and chemicals are superheated. Long exposures on film can alter the images green or brown because of sodium vapor or florescence city lights. One way to have fun (or ruin a great shot) is to use multi-colored filters between bolts and you will have a landscape of rainbow lightning.

Warren

 

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

I have been looking through some video frame grabs as well. I found these two frames, taken only 1/10 second apart. The point of the next two frames is crucial - If you are grabbing from video, at what point in the lightning bolts "life" are you grabbing?

Bolts of lightning do not instantly reach 50,000 degrees F, but do it very quickly. It is not too fast for a video camera's shutter, and something taking 1/10 of a second to heat from 65 degrees F to 60,000 degrees F can be captured by 3 video frames! Say we look at one of those first frames, when the bolt was 15,000 degrees F (it will not be white / bluish, it should be yellowish or green, according to the same temperature model used by stars).

The bolt above was JUST when it was striking (about 100 feet away) in a FL storm in April 1997. The bolt has not "heated up" yet and appears yellow to green.

The above picture, taken as the bolt was hottest, shows the more familiar "bluish" white color.

Note: Pictures shot with a Sony TRV-110 D8 camcorder in program AE mode. Except for resizing to 320x240, the pictures are un-re-touched. The quality is affected / distorted due to extremely heavy rains on the windhield. Never the less, the pictures clearly show what the colors you guys are talking about.

I am not sure about this one. I am not sure if it a lense artifact or not, but the "yellow" bolt coming off the front of my truck looks strange (leader feed?). This was in FL in July 1996, same camera equipment. I did get a strong "electrical" smell in my truck as well (ozone?)

The same bolt (the main one) taking out a power transformer about 100 yards away.

 

[Dan Nichols]

Where I used to live, green flashes were very common during thunderstorms. In contrast to lightning's usual flicker, the green flash was more of a pulse, lasting up to almost a second and if memory serves, they usually quickly followed the actual lightning flash, and were mostly in association with distant heat lightning. While visiting a friend in Richardson, TX, I again saw many green flashes from a distant storm in Plano (No. of Richardson). So I've seen them more near urban or industrial areas, but not in the countryside. I've also seen an occasional very orange flash, much like the orange of sodium-vapor lamps.

I don't feel any flashes are from a blown transformer, but may be wrong. I was once 40 feet from one during a very frigid, still winter morning -- no storms nor other apparent cause. From a blinding flash of several seconds to a final shower of sparks, the "show" itself was spectacular!!