I was wondering if anyone has experiences what is called "ball lightning"

My step father tells of a story when a electric ball came through their storm door when he was a kid during a weird thunderstorm, it ran across their legs and made the hair stand up on end, and then went down the air return register for the furnace never to be seen again.

My father also tells of a simmlar story.

And then, I have one of my own, when I was very young, (about 7), I remember a wild thunderstorm, I recall looking out our storm door, and I observed a bold of lighting with a large ball that decended from it. The ball went out a few seconds later. I was to young to really take a good mental note of what I saw, all I have is a 20 year old vague memory.

Is there any professional opinion here on this subject? Or just any stories you want to share about ball lighthing. I would love to see it again, now that I have a better mindset for it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by andrewcocke

I was wondering if anyone has experiences what is called "ball lightning"

My step father tells of a story when a electric ball came through their storm door when he was a kid during a weird thunderstorm, it ran across their legs and made the hair stand up on end, and then went down the air return register for the furnace never to be seen again.

My father also tells of a simmlar story.

And then, I have one of my own, when I was very young, (about 7), I remember a wild thunderstorm, I recall looking out our storm door, and I observed a bold of lighting with a large ball that decended from it. The ball went out a few seconds later. I was to young to really take a good mental note of what I saw, all I have is a 20 year old vague memory.

Is there any professional opinion here on this subject? or just any stories you want to share about ball lighthing. I would love to see it again, now that I have a better mindset for it.

---

I personally have never seen a ball lightning. But I found this story on the internet:

In a letter to the editor of the London Daily Mail, Morris(1936) described an unusual incident in which a ball lightning caused a tub of water to boil:

During a thunderstorm I saw a large, red hot ball come down from the sky. It struck our house, cut the telephone wire, burnt the window frame,and then buried itself in a tub of water which was underneath. The water boiled for some minutes afterwards, but when it was cool enough for me to search I could find nothing in it."
http://polarmet.mps.ohio-state.edu/~bdaye/balligh.html

Thank you for posting your question to the Ask Me Help Desk.

I have had the luxury of viewing ball lightning once in my lifetime.

It was quite spectacular.

Pretty much a glowing ball that floated through the air in whatever direction it chose.

It sort of reminded me of how a wisp is sometimes depicted in film or video games... magical.

I am a private pilot and I had the experience of what is called St. Elmo's fire and from every thing that I have read it is the same thing that you are referring to as "Ball Lightening". When it struck the plane there was just a bright arc went around inside the plane. It did some damage to the electronics in the plane but I was not affected at all.

I have also heard of it hitting high line wires and traveling down them until the energy gets to a pole that is grounded and then it travels to ground.

St. Elmo's Fire and Ball Lightning are often confused and thought of as the same thing but they are different.

Ball lightning is a sphere that floats and moves around independent of other objects and the source of it remains a mystery.

St. Elmo's Fire is an electric discharge that tends to come off more pointed objects, and is common around power lines and airplane wings. It does not move independently but rather takes the path of the object it surrounds. It is sometimes referred to as a corona discharge. This can happen when the object enters a very strong electrical field.