Blue lightning during a hurricane

[JonathanBelles]

wait i though normal hurricanes dont have lightening?

[Hybridstorm_November2001]

Depends on the storm, and the setup of the weather patterns around it. I've heard, and seen clips, about lightning strikes (sometimes a lot of 'em) in hurricanes.

BTW My Grand parents, on my mother's side, always told me that the lightning strikes in Hurricane Edna of 1954 (the center passed very close to their home, in which I now live), were like you wouldn't believe,

[vacanechaser]

in some cases, they do have lightning.... a lot of times we have noticed that it at times of intensification near landfall.... its not rare as they have proven over past years that lightning is more common than thought...


Jesse V. Bass III
http://www.vastormphoto.com
Hurricane Intercept Research Team

[Grease Monkey]

I don't remember seeing any lightning when Frances and Jeanne cam through. I heard thunder at one point with Wilma, but that's about it. I Think lighting would probably be associated with the outskirts of the strong side of the cane where tornadoes normally form.

[vacanechaser]

I don't remember seeing any lightning when Frances and Jeanne cam through. I heard thunder at one point with Wilma, but that's about it. I Think lighting would probably be associated with the outskirts of the strong side of the cane where tornadoes normally form.

partly correct... have seen it in the core though a couple of times....


Jesse V. Bass III
http://www.vastormphoto.com
Hurricane Intercept Research Team

[Patrick99]

At our gathering tonight we talked about blue lightning during a hurricane. I said it was simply transformers blowing up. Another person said it happens during extreme intense weather obviously during a hurricane. Which is it, not knowing is killing me.

To me it appears green.....and I don't always see it.

There were two occasions when I saw unmistakable green lightning, and neither came during direct hits. One time was during the rain bands of hurricane Georges, and another was that severe squall line that Charley spun northward as he emerged from Cuba. Those were not transformers blowing out - I could see the lightning in the towering clouds, and could hear the thunder. During Georges, it didn't sound like *real* thunder, either...it was weird. It didn't have the rumbling, ground-shaking quality of thunder generated by your typical severe thunderstorm.

I saw a lot of green during Andrew, but *that* was from transformers blowing out, no question.

[JonathanBelles]

otta the 8 hurricanes ive been through ive never seen lightning

[BocaGirl]

At our gathering tonight we talked about blue lightning during a hurricane. I said it was simply transformers blowing up. Another person said it happens during extreme intense weather obviously during a hurricane. Which is it, not knowing is killing me.

Boca, it's been killing me too. I did some research on the topic and I found some interesting information. I know that many people swear that the only time blue lightning occurs is when transforms blow up, but there's evidence that this is not the case.

Here's a link to an article from USA Today that talks about "blue jets".
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/tg/wflash/wflash2.htm

I also found several photographs of blue lightning. I didn't keep the links but I could find them again. They were clearly not generated by anything blowing up.

All in all, an interesting topic. My only hope is that I don't see any unusual lightning - especially in a hurricane situation - anytime soon!

BocaGirl
Barbara