Green lightning west of Park Slope last night?

joshkarpf · February 2012

Did anyone else see fat flashes of GREEN lightning westward of Park Slope last night at around seven o'clock?

I've had hundreds of -- maybe even a few thousand -- dinners on my fire escape, enjoying the sunsets and, even last night, the overcast sky, but I've never seen green lightning.

I was drinking Brooklyn Gin, BTW, not white lightning.

dailyheights · February 2012

Did it look like this?

dailyheights · February 2012

What you saw may not have been lightning at all:

Green Lightning?
Green/turquoise flashes and/or changing colors: A flash of light in the sky that lingers, pulses and/or changes colors is not lightning, but electrical arcing from shorted-out power lines. These arcs are called 'power flashes' and can be triggered by a variety of severe weather - including ice storms, high winds, tornadoes, or by a direct lightning strike. Electrical arcing, whether caused by lightning, ice or wind damage, is very intense, can be as bright as lightning, can illuminate the entire sky and can change color from blue, green, turquoise, red and orange. When lightning strikes an energized power line, an electrical flashover arc can result. Lightning-triggered flashover arcs usually begin during the strike and linger for a few seconds after the strike is over.

http://stormhighway.com/what_color_is_lightning.shtml

joshkarpf · February 2012

It was higher-altitude, appearing in a wide, fat band with normal-looking sky below it.

joshkarpf · February 2012

JoshKarpf said:

It was higher-altitude, appearing in a wide, fat band with normal-looking sky below it. But the power-line answer seems like the simplest hypothesis.

booklaw · February 2012

Could it have been the Northern Lights (aurora borealis)?

Green lightning west of Park Slope last night?

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