• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

Lightning inside Waterspout?

Joined
Jul 2, 2004
Messages
1,781
Location
Hastings, Michigan
I'm not sure what to make of this photo. The caption says it's a lightning strike inside a waterspout. My hunch is, it's part urban legend, and that the outer illumination is just part of the bolt, not a vortex. What do you think: Real or fake? Better yet, do you know any actual, verifiable facts about the photo?
18b46daab69900ca7b0d6c5fd5698431.jpg
 
The whole photo looks fake to me, but I guess you could make a case for a lightning bolt with a 'waterspout' drawn in. How could a lightning bolt follow the exact outline of a vortex?
 
Looks low res. I bet there's an alternate explanation. Definitely some channel drift, but could it be shopped? It doesn't look like the camera got nudged since no other part of the image is blurred, but perhaps some sort of internal stabilization technology allowed for the remainder of the image (which isn't transient like the lightning is) to remain focused. If there was a landspout I would think you would see some condensation. Doesn't seem to be too many waterspouts without condensation.

Was any ancillary information given? Where? When? What did radar look like in the area at the time? Was there any support for rotation?
 
No info on it that's of any help. A well-meaning friend posted it on my FB page. It bore the caption "Lightning in a Waterspout, never seen anything so powerful," which to me smacks of urban legend. When I queried the source, my friend said he did a little research and said the photo was supposedly "taken off of Little Torch Key, Florida, in 2010." That much may be true; it's the claim about the photo that I doubt. Of the few waterspouts I've seen, none has had such a sinuous, ropy appearance, and I just can't imagine a spout serving as channel for a perfectly conformed lightning strike. Channel drift makes sense to me; with two solid votes on it, I'll take it.
 
Good day all,

Without a doubt this is NOT lightning inside a waterspout.

This is a "banjo effect" as it's called of the irregular lightning channel being exposed over a second or two of the frame. The lightning channel moving (with the wind) causes this effect on a time-frame (such as long exposure of more than a tenth of a second).

A similar effect can be seen with bolts from a Tesla coil (below)...

tchpsp7.jpg
 
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