Upwards Lightning Caught On Film

[MAF]

was reading this and thought it may interest a few others

Scientists have photographed "upwards lightning", a rarely-seen phenomenon where electricity from storms flows into the upper atmosphere.

During last year's Tropical Storm Cristobal, lightning reached more than 60km (40 miles) up.

full story

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8214290.stm

[Lynxus]

This isnt "New" information.

Anyway.

if you want more info, google "Lightning sprites"

[chrisbell-nottheweatherman]

I remember seeing a documentary on this a few years ago. There was a guy with an observatory on the eastern slopes of the Rockies. He would observe storms after dark out over the plains and fil sprites. Would love to find out his name or that of the documentary.

[MAF]

This isnt "New" information.

Anyway.

if you want more info, google "Lightning sprites"

yes Lynxus, i know its not new. i just thought the story was interesting the fact the person who captured the shots wasn't even expecting them as he was viewing the actual storm. made getting the pictures all the more fortuitous.

[NL]

I think you are getting mixed up there Lynux, yes, lightning shooting upwards from the cloud into the stratosphere and beyond are 'sprites' but new evidence of actual lightning from 'ground to cloud-base' has finally been observed using high-speed cameras. This phenomena was first reported around the 1930's but has finally been confirmed and was shown on 'Raging Planet' last week.

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/raging-planet-upward-lighting.html