For me, this is one of the most fascinating types of lightning, beyond rare, it’s so rare that many people disbelieve that ball lightning may even exist.
But this mysterious phenomenon does exist! The last example of ball lightning in Europe was recorded in Bergamo, Italy on July 14, 2017 at around 1:30AM during severe thunderstorms.
Here the video from Twitter for people not connected to Facebook:
One of the most fascinating types of lightning, beyond rare, its so rare that many people disbelieve. https://t.co/5n3cCNkubS 16/30 #eustorm pic.twitter.com/fvWmd5L2AU
— #eustorm (@EUStormMap) July 16, 2017
As reported by the author of the video, Patrizia Lapatty Bersani, immediately after the strong pulsing glow came a very strong smell of sulphur, a common trait with ball lightning reports. No sign of fire the following morning and this occurred some 2-3 meters above the tree tops on a hillside in front of the observers home.
What is ball lightning?
Ball lightning is a sphere of electrical light that can appear during a storm. The large, mysterious glow that appears during thunderstorms has been mistaken for UFOs, wreaked havoc on homes and eluded rational explanation for centuries.
In 2014, the strange glowing phenomenon has been captured on video for the first time by Chinese researchers during a thunderstorm in Qinghai when they were mapping radiation.
Ball lightning is so rare, it only occurs 1-2 times a year. This footage is the second report for 2017. Simply amazing!
[…] Ball lightning is a rare and poorly understood weather phenomenon where a colorful glowing orb forms — usually during a thunderstorm — and appears to skitter through the air, far outliving the jagged bolt of lightning people are used to. […]
[…] Ball lightning is a rare and poorly understood weather phenomenon where a colorful glowing orb forms — usually during a thunderstorm — and appears to skitter through the air, far outliving the jagged bolt of lightning people are used to. […]