Original poster: Russell L Thornton <Russell.L.Thornton@xxxxxxxx>
Hi all,
I am reading some of the descriptions of ball lightning here and
getting a little confused as to what I understood it to be.
My Dad has told me of his witnessing a ball of lightning hitting the
ground, on the farm he grew up on in N. Dakota, and rolling
into the barn and catching stuff on fire. He is not one I associate
with making up stories but I have always kind of classed this
one up there with sitting on top of telephone poles after the snow
and walking up hill to school both ways. Having said that,
I travel I-95 twice a day here in central Florida, known for liquid
sunshine and lots and lots of lightning. One day traveling home
I witness a strike to a power pole over a mile ahead of me and
a huge (it must have been huge from the distance) sphere of
light remained on the cable and traveled across the cable at a
relatively slow rate. It lasted so long that, if I had a camcorder
I would have had plenty of time to reach down, turn it on, aim and
still capture several seconds of it.
Now, here is my question: Was what I saw ball lightning?
Russ
Monitoring lightning at the Cape