Lightning and video ghosting artifacts

[Dan Robinson]

I've been working on this page for a while, but after getting some new material for it recently, I was spurred on to go ahead and finish it.



http://wvlightning.com/videoghost.shtml

 

[Stan Olson]

I've had several of these, including my favorite where it nailed my old GPS unit.

Stan, K9SWX

 

[JR Hehnly]

Dan, great review and analysis!
Here's my contribution (June 5, 2001 - near Vici, OK):

 

[michaelwmoss]

Where in the shot did that lightning actually hit?

 

[Jeff Wear]

here are a few I've got

near Wellington KS 5/17/2001

Norman OK 9/19/2002

Lawton OK 6/11/2003

Winner SD 6/7/2005

 

[michaelwmoss]

Pretty good ones there! How close were these strikes in reality to ya?

 

[JR Hehnly]

Pretty good ones there! How close were these strikes in reality to ya?

I believe the bolts were in the air above me and reflected in the camera's lens somehow. Still close enough to make me jump, though.

 

[michaelwmoss]

We got some good ones this past Thursday as well. Several strikes very close in "The Bear Cage" of this supercell near Parker City, IN. Got a couple of tornadoes as well (one of them being my 1st)

Some of the strikes were close enough that the charge could be heard. One was estimated to be about 15-20 ft away

 

[David Schuttler]

Here is one from this past sunday night . There is no windows involved since I had the camcorder mounted on the drivers window . I do not believe there was water on the ground(or a pond) and since it was a 2 lane road it shouldn't be reflection off the wet road either. I'll check the video more thoroughly later this week.

Here is a brighter grab from the same bolt

 

[michaelwmoss]

Almost looks like a funnel cloud there on the Upper-Right hand side. Was that storm tornadic?

 

[David Schuttler]

Originally posted by michaelwmoss
Almost looks like a funnel cloud there on the Upper-Right hand side. Was that storm tornadic?

No just sever warned http://kamala.cod.edu/offs/KOUN/0507040326.wuus54.html

 

[cdcollura]

Artifact Or Leader Feed? You Decide!

This was a Florida thunderstorm in June 1996 west of Fort Lauderdale in S Florida. The camera was an older analog Sony Hi-8 camcorder with auto-exposure set (PE - Program AE mode).

The picture above was 1/2 second before the lightning struck a pole. I am still debating if this was a "leader feed" (note the reflection in the hood of my truck) and that is was YELLOWish in color more than an artifact. But I will show it here.

The picture above is the "real" lightning bolt hitting the pole 100 yards away and the transformer on the pole exploding. This was about 1/2 second after the first picture.