Lightening Fireball -- Fake or Real

I found this today on Youtube.

A woman is filming a storm, and catches a rare lightening strike, and even rarer fireball on camera.

Though, this video seems a bit fishy to me.

What are the odds of her focusing right on the spot where the lightening strikes?

Is this real? Or CGI folks?

reply to post by phantomjack


Looks real to me..

The odds of filming a lightening strike in a strong storm are not low.

I think your perception of rarity of events comes down to what you have seen, not actual rarity. I have seen many close lightening strikes in my life so far..

cool video.

That had to be real she was freaked out, If that was fake I would be shocked, no pun intened.
I have been close a few times but have never seen anything like that. looked like a bomb

the OPs question was the reason why i picked this avatar

reply to post by phantomjack


It seems legitimate to me. She gets startled when it strikes and you can tell by how she reacts and moves the camera. The puppy is also scared with his tail down. I think she was just filming the storm, where it was easiest to see (out the windows of that gorgeous indoor pool) and where the lightening seems to strike I'm pretty sure I saw a power line right where it strikes which would explain why it sparked so badly. Just good timing to have the camera out I believe. If you slow it down it looks very real, and cool. Good find!

Edit; not sure after looking if it is a power line, those lines look they actually hold the corners of the house down or something..but whatever it hits is something that seems to react largely with the lightening! I love lightening!

I took a screen shot of one point on there where you can see the bolt coming down and striking the ground...looked real to me.

reply to post by Darkblade71


Good picture! Do you think that maybe it could be orange/redish because whatever it struck caught fire? Or are some lightening bolts just orange?

it's called weather. it's been happenin'g for thousands of years
.maybe more.

cool vid.

reply to post by Katharos62191


Well, after I wrote that I realized that some do, as the above poster showed in his avatar, and other volcanic lightning I have seen on vid seems red, so I guess it does!

Originally posted by Rikku
it's called weather. it's been happenin'g for thousands of years
.maybe more.

cool vid.

What a nice, unsarcastic post. Thanks for your input!

It looks real to me.

It's hard to make out if it was the ground being struck or a tree, but I think it's likely that it was a tree.

In cases where a tree is struck, the trees sap will be super-heated and vaporized in an instant. Since the sap is confined in the trunk/branches, the near instantaneous increase in pressure literally blows the tree apart, much like a bomb going off. This vapor would/could then ignite, hence the fireball.

This is why it's a bad idea to shelter under trees when there is lightning about!

Maybe it hit a transformer then it fell, all the same time rather fast like?

Originally posted by Katharos62191
reply to post by phantomjack

 

It seems legitimate to me. She gets startled when it strikes and you can tell by how she reacts and moves the camera. The puppy is also scared with his tail down. I think she was just filming the storm, where it was easiest to see (out the windows of that gorgeous indoor pool) and where the lightening seems to strike I'm pretty sure I saw a power line right where it strikes which would explain why it sparked so badly. Just good timing to have the camera out I believe. If you slow it down it looks very real, and cool. Good find!

Edit; not sure after looking if it is a power line, those lines look they actually hold the corners of the house down or something..but whatever it hits is something that seems to react largely with the lightening! I love lightening!

edit on 8-10-2012 by Katharos62191 because: (no reason given)

Ya the puppy dog reaction did it for me it real dog don't act.
Had lighting hit a tree close to my house once and I jump up too.

Originally posted by FireballStorm
It looks real to me.

It's hard to make out if it was the ground being struck or a tree, but I think it's likely that it was a tree.

In cases where a tree is struck, the trees sap will be super-heated and vaporized in an instant. Since the sap is confined in the trunk/branches, the near instantaneous increase in pressure literally blows the tree apart, much like a bomb going off. This vapor would/could then ignite, hence the fireball.

This is why it's a bad idea to shelter under trees when there is lightning about!

Ya that what happen to the tree by my house just exploded
Only thing left was the branch on the ground love to look at lighting.

It looks like it hit the tree, and at up to 54,000F it is known to easily light stuff on fire

Some of my favorite strikes as of late...

Here is an awesome bolt in Russia that vaporized a power line.


Here is an awesome close view of a bolt hitting a tree.


Lucky guy!

reply to post by phantomjack


Definitely looks real to me. I have witnessed ball lightening first hand (when at school). The classroom i was sitting in faced a Baptist Church, storm started and all of a sudden a ball of lightening passed in front of the window and hit the Church. I was 11, in a Classics lesson, and it was totally awesome! Teacher was annoyed as nobody could be bothered with the Classics stuff afterwards! Never seen any since though...........

Don't know why i have never thought of it before but York must have done something to anger the gods.........the Minster (enormous Gothic cathedral) was hit by lightening in the Mid 80's and burnt so badly it is still being repaired

While we are all posting lightening vidd check this one out where a man gets hit twice!!