Green Lightning?

Yo, there's a pretty epic lightning storm going on outside right now, so as usual I lifted up the blinds, turned off the lights, and got a front row seat. I was looking out there, and in the distance I saw a bright green lightning strike! I thought it must have been a blown transformer or something because I know those go crazy when lightning strikes them, but over the night I've seen 3 total bright green lightning strikes! All of the other ones are the typical white flashes that light up the sky sort of like a strobe light, on and off, and then the 3 green ones turn at least half of the sky completely bright green. It was completely awesome, it's hard to described how cool it looks to see the sky turn bright green in comparison to turning plain old white.

Does anybody know what causes that? Is it something with the atmosphere? Something with the sky in the background causing the illusion of green lightning?

It's 9:19PM right now, and I haven't seen any green flashes in like 10 minutes. I also didn't get any pictures because for one it happens too fast for me to snap a picture, and I practically go into shock when I see it because it's so cool.

It was definitely the coolest thing I've ever seen in a thunderstorm, and I'm going to keep watching because it's worth the wait to see it.

I'd say it's probably atmospheric pollution either filtering the light or reacting with the lightning in some way.

There are a few different theories around regarding this phenomenon. Is there any obvious pollution that you can see during a normal day or night for that matter.

reply to post by TupacShakur



According to this
wvlightning.com...
it's caused from lightning hitting power lines

Since power line faults are extremely bright, they are often mistaken for lightning as they light up the sky with their characteristic bluish-green glow. In fact, many reports of 'ball lightning' have been found to be nothing more than a lightning-caused flashover.

Could that be what you saw?

reply to post by Pauligirl


Definitely, when I saw the first one in the distance I automatically thought that a transformer just got struck by lightning because I've seen videos of it before. But when I saw two more after that I thought it might be due to some other factor. Three powerlines being struck? I wish I could have been right next to the powerlines and seen it in person, that would be great.

I wonder if anybodys power went out around here because of that?

It wouldn't surprise me in the least that you've seen color-tinged lightning. It could possibly be that this happens more frequently then we realize because we already have preconceived notions as to what lightning is supposed to look like -- usually a brilliant flash of white.

Speaking from personal experience, I've seen pink and blue colored lightning during particularly active electric storms. I noticed it once back in high school and have simply paid closer attention during storms since then and have seen it repeated many times.

I am sitting here looking out my window at another epic strom blowing over Colorado....we have been getting these storms off and on thruout the day for days now...

The lightening can appear diff colors from time to time..


Loving these storms....except when my power goes out...grrrrr

I once saw a pink rainbow, but there are no photos of that, either...

reply to post by maria_stardust

Speaking from personal experience, I've seen pink and blue colored lightning during particularly active electric storms. I noticed it once back in high school and have simply paid closer attention during storms since then and have seen it repeated many times.

If I could see a pink, blue, green, and white lightning storm, that would be one of the greatest moments of my life. This storm was pretty active too, it practically looked like a strobe light outside. The longest the sky would go without flashing was 1-2 seconds, typically there were were multiple flashes each second. It was pretty intense and entertaining to watch.

reply to post by greeneyedleo

The lightening can appear diff colors from time to time..

I need to pay better attention and have a camera ready next time, because I've never noticed it before.

Loving these storms....except when my power goes out...grrrrr

I feel ya, my internet was going on and off during the storm. No power outage this time though, but for the people living near the power-lines or transformers that got struck, that's a whole different story.