Ball lightning in Guernsey

[P.K.]

Another member of TORRO http://www.torro.org.uk has been investigating this over the last week or so. There are several more reports of BL than are reported here:

Lightning strike wrecked my TV
by Nigel Baudains

A PENSIONER had the shock of his life when ball lightning shot through his front window.

Roy Falla, whose home was hit by ball lightning, talking to amateur meteorologist Paul Domaille. (Picture by John O’Neill, 0177047)

Roy Falla, 80, was watching TV at his home in Lowlands Road, St Sampson’s, when the phenomenon struck, causing the set to fail.
Amateur meteorologist Paul Domaille has investigated more than 50 reports of ball lightning from Thursday last week – seen at the same time as a Flybe aircraft was struck twice in mid-air.
So-called lightning balls penetrated at least four homes in the north of the island. It can enter and exit properties without leaving a mark. Mr Falla was about to go to bed when the loudest clap of thunder he had ever heard went off.
A split second later, a lightning ball entered his lounge through the window and closed curtains and the television broke.
‘I was absolutely petrified,’ he said.
‘It made a hissing noise and I would say it went dead centre into the back of the TV.’
Mr Falla examined that the set, which he expected to be warm, but could find nothing obviously wrong. As he opened the curtains to look outside, he heard an aircraft, which he believes was the Flybe Dash 8 that had been forced to abort its flight to Exeter.
‘I pulled the curtains back to see, but the glass was fine.
‘The thing that amazed was that the ball came through the window without causing any damage. The thing I don’t know is where it really went.’
The ball was a yellow/white colour and about the size of a football.
Mr Falla said he went to bed ‘shaking like a leaf’. He was so worried that he had imagined the whole thing that he did not tell his daughter of his experience for a week.
‘I thought that no one would believe me and I certainly hope I don’t see another one. Just what can a thing like that do?’
Others also heard the clap of thunder.
‘My neighbour told me she’d been having a bath and she’d never got out so quick.’
Mr Domaille, 49, is a member of Torro – the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation. Last Friday, he overheard a conversation in a shop suggesting that a person from St Martin’s had seen ball lightning, which is unusual.
He asked the Guernsey Press to help him find that person. The following day after a story was published, he received more than 50 calls from people who had seen the phenomenon and was on the phone for about five hours.
One or possibly two balls were seen around Jerbourg Point and another above the Crown Pier. Mr Domaille posted his findings on the Torro forum and amateur meteorologists from as far afield as Russia and Australia have shown an interest.

Published 5/3/2005
http://www.thisisguernsey.com/code/shownewsarticle.pl?ArticleID=012641

Ball of lightning shot across room
by Nigel Baudains

A ST SAMPSON’S couple watched in amazement as ball lightning entered their lounge.

Billy Gregory-Haines, 41, and wife Maria, 39, were watching television in their home at L’Islet.
‘Maria saw this streak come straight through the glass porch, then a double-glazed door, and shoot across the room,’ he said.
‘I saw it out of the corner of my eye as I was sitting at a different angle.’
The couple watched as a ball, the colour of lightning, stopped for a split second about a foot from the TV screen and about 18 inches off the floor before leaving the same way as it had entered.
Mr Gregory-Haines said the whole thing took about two seconds.
‘We just looked at one another and said: “Did you see that?”
‘The ball was a sort of a blue-and-white colour, absolutely crystal clear. Had I not seen it with my own eyes, I would not have believed it,’ he said.
Mr Gregory-Haines began to inspect the house for damage but found none.
‘We started asking ourselves what might have happened if we had been standing in the way.’
Mr Gregory-Haines said he and his wife did not believe in the supernatural.
‘I’m a rationalist and I think there must be some sort of scientific explanation,’ he said.
The ball entered the room from the north.
St Sampson’s School pupil Jessica Elliston, 14, who lives near Ville Baudu, Vale, had just gone to bed after returning from rehearsals for the Gadoc Easter production.
She said she often looked at the stars through a roof light in her bedroom.
‘I looked out of the window and saw this bright ball that was pure white and it just seemed to get bigger,’ she said.
‘I thought this was something different.
‘All of a sudden there was a big flash, I blinked, and, when I opened my eyes, it was gone and the electricity had gone off in our house.’
The flash coincided with one of the loudest claps of thunder Jessica said she had ever heard.
Her father, David, came into her room to check she was all right and found that the trip switch had been activated.
‘My dad said he thought it had probably been ball lightning,’ said Jessica.

*NO THEORIES have explained convincingly the ball lightning phenomenon.
The effect has been created without any electrical storm but according to most surveys, 70% of cases occur after a lightning strike.
In some cases balls have been seen descending the path of recent lightning strikes and stopping near the ground. In other cases they have just appeared at the point of impact.
In a high percentage of cases, balls have entered buildings via windows and doors. .
There is no scientific explanation of how such a ball could be created by a lightning bolt.
They can range from a few centimetres in diameter to a few metres, but the average is about 20 centimetres.

Published 5/3/2005
http://www.thisisguernsey.com/code/shownewsarticle.pl?ArticleID=012643