First recorded scientific video of Ball Lightning

Hi ATS

Did a search, didnt find this video.

Enjoy

In a new paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, Chinese researchers say they recorded ball lightning during a thunderstorm in Qinghai. Video and spectrographs of the 2012 storm are believed to be the first scientific recordings of ball lightning in nature, New Scientist reported.

Put simply, the ball lightning caught on video was a product of the lightning bolt's interaction with the earth. As the authors explained in the study's abstract, the ball lightning "is generated by a cloud-to-ground lightning strike."

The theory was actually first put forth more than a decade ago, but the new spectral analysis reinforces it.

Very cool....I have a picture somewhere on my mac that I just happened to capture ball lightning on in a storm when I lived in MS. Really crazy cool. I have seen it on 3 occasions and all were when I lived in MS.

Fixed the video for you:

Nice find! As a ten year old kid, maybe 23 years ago, was my first and only encounter with ball lightning. It was right after a strong summer thunderstorm in rural WV. Standing out on the front porch I watched this eery, yet beautiful orb floating through the sky off in the distance maybe 50 yards or so? Can't quite recall the exact distance but relatively close.

What I don't have trouble remembering was how it looked. Kind of like a miniature sun with wispy, irregular tendrils flickering from it. To this day it is probably the most fantastic thing I have ever seen. Had I not seen it for myself, I doubt I would have ever believed someone trying to describe it to me. The very definition of surreal.

Vasa Croe, I envy that you've observed this phenomenon three times. Every time it storms, I keep an eye out. Eh, maybe I see it again someday.

reply to post by Hithe Merinos

In a new paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, Chinese researchers say they recorded ball lightning during a thunderstorm in Qinghai. Video and spectrographs of the 2012 storm are believed to be the first scientific recordings of ball lightning in nature, New Scientist reported.

Assuming this is the link from your quote. HERE
I am always interested in things that go on in the sky, great post! S & F

FatherStacks
Nice find! As a ten year old kid, maybe 23 years ago, was my first and only encounter with ball lightning. It was right after a strong summer thunderstorm in rural WV. Standing out on the front porch I watched this eery, yet beautiful orb floating through the sky off in the distance maybe 50 yards or so? Can't quite recall the exact distance but relatively close.

What I don't have trouble remembering was how it looked. Kind of like a miniature sun with wispy, irregular tendrils flickering from it. To this day it is probably the most fantastic thing I have ever seen. Had I not seen it for myself, I doubt I would have ever believed someone trying to describe it to me. The very definition of surreal.

Vasa Croe, I envy that you've observed this phenomenon three times. Every time it storms, I keep an eye out. Eh, maybe I see it again someday.

Very much the same as I saw it, mine was almost overhead, and it popped and fizzled and was on the move, quite something!

Hithe Merinos

Put simply, the ball lightning caught on video was a product of the lightning bolt's interaction with the earth. As the authors explained in the study's abstract, the ball lightning "is generated by a cloud-to-ground lightning strike."

The theory was actually first put forth more than a decade ago, but the new spectral analysis reinforces it.

edit on 21-1-2014 by Hithe Merinos because: (no reason given)

That makes sense when you read the rest of that link. It looks to me like what the Chinese captured on film, and what FatherStacks and I saw, is much the same form of ball lightning. I think though that there are other forms that are scavenged from formed metals and/or alloys that burn bluish and pinkish and last longer, such as the one witnessed in an airliner.
My wife saw one like that after a lightning strike, and she thought it was going to come through the patio door window, I told her that was rubbish...I lied so not to fuel her fears, but there have been instances of that. Made no difference though, ever since that, she heads for the bed, blanket over the head and terrified whenever there is a severe electric storm.

I've never seen it, but my best friend as a kid and his family swear (and I saw them just an hour or so after this happened) that an orb of lightening came in their front door and went down the hallway. Three of them saw it, including my buddy, his mother, and his older brother.

"Be not afraid to welcome strangers, for some have entertained angels unawares."

I cannot see how this will be accepted as evidence. Being an avid member of the bigfoot research community, I would just like to point out that the same claims that are made against any video evidence that is presented for the existence of bigfoot could likewise be made against the evidence this video is meant to present. Well, not all arguments would be viable or the same, but the fact that this video could easily have been hoaxed is to me the most prominent.

And someone will then say "but the witness was credible." Been there, done that, many times in the bigfooting world, yet such arguments are not accepted as valid. So I don't see how this video can be accepted as evidence of any type.

Does it match the description of any UFO reports that were deemed to be "ball lightning"? I dunno, that video was pretty short and seemed to be in very slow motion, so i take it ball lightning, just like with regular lightning, lasts for but an instant before winking out of existence and so would not be sufficient to explain any prolonged phenomena?