Posted on 11/15/2008 11:17:06 AM PST by BGHater
A woman claimed yesterday to have seen two balls of lightning in her house in West Wales.
Annie Dobson, from Kidwelly, said she was terrified to see the mysterious phenomena bouncing around her home.
BBC weather presenter Derek Brockway said the incident was very unusual and potentially deadly.
“For years, the very existence of ball lightning was controversial,” he said.
“Most scientists now accept that it does occur, but there is still no agreed explanation of what it is.
“One theory suggests that ball lightning is a highly ionised blob of plasma held together by magnetic fields, while an exotic explanation claims the cause is mini black holes created in the big bang.
“Ball lightning appears as a glowing ball of light or sphere that moves slowly near the ground before disappearing or exploding.
“Typically the size of a grapefruit, sometimes it is as small as a pea, or as large as a bus.
“It sometimes hovers but can also bounce along the ground. It usually lasts only a few seconds, but sometimes much longer. Sometimes it disappears silently, other times it explodes violently.
“It contains very high levels of energy. People have been killed by ball lightning.
“Sounds like Annie Dobson was very lucky yesterday.”
Gee seems like it can ‘sometimes’ do a lot of different things.
At one point I lived in an apt on the second floor that had pretty badly “installed” electric wiring running all around the walls of the room.
One day, during a thunder storm a bit of lightening jumped through my window and ran all around the room on that wiring.
As my friend said at the time, it looked like “evil marmalade”.
Over in a second or two, but pretty scary.
Well, that’s interesting. Now if you see one of these mysterious little power blobs, run away. Being that it’s so deadly and all. *raises eyebrow and laughs*
Well, that’s interesting. Now if you see one of these mysterious little power blobs, run away. Being that it’s so deadly and all. *raises eyebrow and laughs*
If you wear lots of tinfoil, ball lightning cannot hurt you.
Yes. The people are knows as "trolls", and the ball lightning is more commonly known as a "ZOT".
“Goodness, gracious. . .”
The engine cut out instantly. I got out to check what had happened.
The alternator and starter coils had "melted".
I took off the alternator and disconnected the starter ~ pulled it out and stuck it in the backseat or the trunk ~ one of the two.
Wired things through to the battery so I had lights and a windshield wiper. Pushed the car a bit along the hill until it was rolling on its own, jumped in, and started the engine through the mechanical linkage with the wheels.
Made it all the way home to Arlington VA where I parked the car in a flood prone area.
Once everything had dried out about a month later I DXd both the starter and the alternator. There were other reports of ball lightning in the area as that storm passed through.
I haven't seen anthing like it since.
So, yeah, something that will melt copper coils can probably kill you.
The other poster when it struck his car I find credible, and it's amazing he had the mechanical knowledge to get himself out of it. I wouldn't have known how to dissemble what he did, but wonder if my clutch start car would have restarted in such conditions if I could have gotten my car to the crest of a hill.
The Russian film "Burnt by the Sun" featured something like that as an omen. I thought it was just an artistic device, had to be in filming it. It was white, and I thought ball lightning was bluish.
Mr G’s cousin was a pilot with a major airline. He told us that on one flight ball lightning rolled in through the windshield of the plane, rolled straight through the plane down the aisle, and out the tail. It was a fairly exciting moment for a man who was a fighter pilot in Korea.
I have seen “ball lightning”. Was driving about 300 feet from a power transformer that took a direct lightning strike. The thing literally glowed blue for several seconds while little blue balls rolled around......I had the impression it was more “plasma” than lightning.
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She should have called Art Bell and reported seeing “orbs”.
8^)
I came across an account of that reading the Little House series to my kids years ago.
Ball Lightning With Internal Structure
Science Frontiers Online
No. 22: Jul-Aug 1982
http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf022/sf022p11.htm
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