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| colonel_sanderson |
 Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:59 am Post subject: Color-Shifting Lightning |
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Forum Freshman
Joined: 10 Apr 2008
Posts: 3
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Last night I had a strange experience. In Plano, TX, there was a big thunderstorm. Everyone in my house was woken up by a loud humming noise. When it woke me up, I looked at my window, which was covered by a window shade. Through I could see light from the lightning flashes, but the strange thing was the light was cycling through color changes at a rather rapid rate, 2 or 3 colors per second. And not just normal lightning colors that are fairly close to white. I mean vivid shades of red, blue, green, and in between. I rushed to my window and looked out to see if I could find the source, but the whole sky seemed to be affected.
The theory I have right now is that the hum we heard was a tornado passing overhead. The cyclone would probably have been filled with rain, which acted like a prism. The rotation might have caused the colors to cycle like they did.
I've emailed the lead meteorological scientist at OU, the center of tornado alley. When/If she replies, I'll post it here.
Has anyone else seen or heard of this phenomenon? Any other theories? (barring an alien spacecraft, haha.) |
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| Pendragon |
| Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 12:48 pm Post subject: |
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Moderator
Joined: 07 Jan 2005
Posts: 1160
Location: Nederland
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Wow that must've been quite impressive!
There are two things that come to my mind. Firstly broken powerlines can create very strange colours, so if a powerline was damaged during the thunder storm that might explain it. Secondly there's the 'ball lightning' phenomenon. A ball lightning would explain why the light wasn't just a flash but rather a shifting colour (unless I misinterpret your post), they can be several meters wide so seen from behind a shaded window they may seem to fill the entire sky. If it was in fact a ball lightning then you've witnessed a rare phenomenon that's still not completely understood by science. |
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| colonel_sanderson |
| Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 1:28 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Freshman
Joined: 10 Apr 2008
Posts: 3
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Powerlines or a fried transformer was actually the first thing I thought of, but as it turns out there's no above ground power in that neighborhood.
I suppose the ball lightning is a possibility, but I haven't heard of it shifting colors in such a way. And I actually moved the shade and looked out the window seeing a large portion of the sky. Then again, I was also pretty groggy, haha. 
It was indeed quite a sight, though. |
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| The Matt |
| Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 2:12 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Sophomore
Joined: 07 Jan 2007
Posts: 118
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| When a lightning strike occurs, you get a number of what are known as 'step/stepped leaders', which are paths of ionised air descending from the cloud towards the ground. When one makes contact with the ground, a lightning conductor etc, you get the 'return stroke' which is the main lightning strike, and all the other failed step leaders die off. If I recall, the step leaders can be accompanied by a glow and a hum, so maybe when you thought the whole sky was lit up, it was actually just the area immediately round your house. I don't have a clue about the changing colours though. |
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| sunshinewarrior |
| Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 3:31 am Post subject: |
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Forum Ph.D.
Joined: 26 Sep 2007
Posts: 1018
Location: London
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| Is there any chance the changing colours were linked more to your visual perceptual systems - partly based on after-images from really bright lights to a dark adapted eye at a time when you're feeling a touch groggy? |
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| colonel_sanderson |
| Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 9:51 am Post subject: |
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Forum Freshman
Joined: 10 Apr 2008
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| I don't think so... it definitely was just dark between flashes, and I wasn't seeing the lightning directly, just light from it through a curtain and then through the clouds, so I wouldn't think it would leave afterimages. Also, afterimages would move with your eyes since their on your retinas, and that didn't happen. |
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