Thanks for that post, Dr. Bill. I love lightning, and find it fascinating that there are still so many natural phenomena we have yet to perceive, much less decode.
I have never seen ball lightning, or met anyone who has, but I have heard that it may account for a significant portion of UFO sightings. That makes sense to me, especially if we are really talking about a few different phenomena, rather than only one. And it seems to be sensible that there could be some patterning with earth's electro magnetic meridians, though I fear venturing into the new-agers territory here. Our planet is living, dynamic and evolving, is it not?
And my two most impressive lightning encounters were on planes, in the sky. About 20 years ago I was returning from a football game on an alums private jet with a pilot and a few coaches. A huge storm loomed over Texas, but we had to make it back to California from New Orleans quickly, so we had to fly through it. I'm afraid the pilot underestimated the size and power of that storm, and the 7 of us spent a terrified couple of hours weaving through those giant thunderheads with huge boalts of lightning exploding all around us, unveiling(what's the word I want here? startling us with...?) the majestic silhouettes of those huge clouds in some strange strobe-like display, jostling the plane wildly to and fro (yes, to and fro!:) None of us looked at each other or spoke even one word as each silently recounted all of the teams and coaches that had met their demise this way. I know we were all sure we were going to meet our maker that very night! It was terrifying, but also perhaps the most spectacular display I have ever seen! And all of a sudden we emerged into clear, smooth skies and lived to tell the tale.
And the other impressive encounter was just this September, when my daughter, husband and I were off to Austin for a family wedding. We don't travel much as a family, so this was a treat for the three of us. As we took off over the Pacific, in a gentle, rare, end of summer rain, my daughter, nosed pressed to the window, saw lightning off in the distance, over the open ocean, but this view was from above, looking down on it. I had never seen it like that. It was beautiful, and far less frightening, I might add, perhaps because it was silent as we were out of range of the attendant thunder. And curiously, it appeared not to actually reach down and connect with the sea, yet from our angle this could have been just an illusion. We were able to watch in wonder for 6 or 7 minutes, before the plane turned back eastward and the storm was out of sight.
maria
