Strange Flash in the Sky

Most will probably say what I am about to describe was lightning and to be fair all the signs were there that it could had been but it is unlike any lightning I have ever witnessed and covered at least 30 mile radius.

Bear with me as I set the stage.

I awoke this morning with my 11 month old son nustling into my neck, I looked over at the clock and it was 3am EST. Apparently, he awoke in the middle of the night and his momma carried him to bed with us, most likely to nurse him and fell back to sleep. I tried to get a few more minutes of sleep, my alarm is set for 3:30am but the boy kept tossing and turning, so I got up shut off my alarm and went to make some coffee.

Afterwards, I turned on the hall light so I could see in the bedroom to find my work clothes and hopefully not wake anyone up. I walked into the room and saw Rebecca's eyes open looking at me.

"Good Morning", I said

Her voice cracked,"Morning"

"Did you make coffee?"

"Yup"

She looked at me for a second,"That is the last of it?"

"Yup"

I grabbed my clothes, turned off the hall light and walked into the den to get dressed, the shade on the window was up so I pulled it closed, even though we are in the middle of the country and no one is around I still can't shake my city boy ways.

About five minutes later I could hear her walking down the hallway, I guess the thought of there being only one pot left prevented her from going back to sleep, which she usually does in the morning, and she walked to the kitchen to make her a cup. I walked in behind her and she was making us both a cup. She handed me my cup and started towards the den. I followed her and we both sat and talked a bit before I left for my hour long trip to work.

I walked out the door around fourish, it was really mild outside and cloudy as I couldn't see any stars, I started driving to work like I do every morning. About twenty minutes into my drive, just as I passed Elizabethtown and was driving up a small hill approaching the crest of a larger hill going down, for less than a second the entire sky and ground lit up from left to right, tree line to tree line. I spoke outloud to myself,"What the eff was that?". Maybe I have been hanging out at ATS to long because my mind really started wondering. It was like a camera flash on a massive scale, no thunder, no boom. Everything just lit up and went dark again.

Directly after that I get a text on my phone,

"Bright flash outside the window got up to see and nothing no car or anything ... crazy"

I replied,"I saw it in Etown, no idea what that was, was bright as day for less then a second, weird"

She replies,"WOW"

I texted."Maybe it was lightning?"

Although I was doubtful, I have never seen lightning that bright and make no noise, usually when you see it that bright you are close to the strike and hear a terrific boom, I was even more skeptical because she saw it 20 some odd miles away from where I was on the other side of Elizabethtown, she is about seven minutes away on the other side from were Abraham Lincoln was born.

"Lighting?"
"Lightning, don't work like that"

She has lived in the country all her life, I couldn't get her to move to the city ...

"I wouldn't had got my butt up to look out the window if it even looked the slightest bit like lightning"

I asked,"Was the shade still closed?"

"Yea, I seen the light evenly all around the shade as it lit up."

"Any noise?"

"Nope, was like a super bright camera flash right outside the window"

I then drove another ten miles and stopped at a Pilot station in Lebanon Junction to get more coffee, I didnt bring any since we was out at home. I saw a guy outside in an orange vest collecting garbage from the pumps, I couldn't help myself but to ask him.

"Hey, How you doing? Did you by any chance see a bright flash in the sky about ten or so minutes ago?"

"Yea, I did ... I figured it was lightning"

"That is weird, I saw the same thing in Etown and my girl saw it too 30 miles away from here"

"Hmm, that is weird, I thought it was lightning but maybe it was one of them there meteors again?"

I thanked him for the information and went in to get some coffee and then got back on the interstate. I drove another 12 miles on the interstate and started hitting sprinkles and saw my first arc of lightning which appeared to be over Louisville but was no where near as bright.

I texted Rebecca,"I just saw lightning"

She texted back,"I didn't"

The closer I got to Louisville the heavier the rain got and I saw another lightning strike but again it was nothing like the intense light we all saw earlier.

I got to work and was going to ask anyone else if they had seen it but I saw no one around as I was going back to my area, so I came up to my office and wrote out what happened instead but am probably going to hit the floor and ask around.

I wanna see it too! As long as its not dangerous like the Battle Los Angeles aliens' lights.

So, its either Lightning, or something else.

What are the other possibilities? Power transformers in more than one location?

reply to post by atsci


I don't know, I asked around and learned I live twice as far away from work as everyone else

Most leave for work around 4:30 or later, the flash was around 4:23am.

Did, get to hear stories of what other people saw and heard on other occasions on their way to work.

What ever it was it was seen over a wide distance and made no noise.

I work in a building that has about a 10 acre footprint and there are 6 of them, most with mezzanines so obviously I havent talked to everyone yet, I just road around and asked random people that didn't look busy.

reply to post by Tazkven

What you describe sounds exactly like cloud-to-cloud lightning.

Originally posted by Tazkven
for less than a second the entire sky and ground lit up from left to right, tree line to tree line.

Instead of the lightning bolts going from cloud to ground (or in rare occasions ground to cloud), it goes from cloud to cloud, which is quite common:






The bolts can stretch across the entire sky and not make a sound. Oftentimes, cloud-to-cloud lightning will be totally hidden by clouds so that all you see is just the flash. And just by being in the general vicinity of any kind of precipitation should automatically tell you it was probably lightning.

reply to post by _BoneZ_


The lightning flashes I saw over Louisville were cloud to cloud and clearly visable, but no where near as bright.

Which of course Louisville is 60 miles away from home, Louisville is not on the map below ...



The black circle I estimate to be 30+ some odd miles, from the bottom red circle to the middle red circle about 20 miles.

The bottom red and center red circles the flash was just as bright as daylight, I cannot account for the top red circle but I would assume it was the same intensity as up to that point there was no visable lightning up to that point and you can't see the lightning from Louisville anyways because of the hills.

I was unaware that lightning would travel that far and be that bright over atleast 20+ miles, What got me is her sending me a text seconds later seeing the same flash 20 miles away at the same time and lit up the window like daylight as it did inside my vehicle.

That was one heck of a bolt of lightning making no noise, 60 miles from the storm and traveling at least 30 miles ...

Was there cloud cover where you were? Didn't see in your post if you mentioned what the weather was like. It was pre-dawn hours, so it was dark but were there clouds or was it clear? I'm assuming there were clouds because as you got closer to Louisville you started to see actual lightning. My guess, this was another meteor burning up. From what you describe, it makes more sense than a 30 mile lightning.

Just wanted to say hi neighbor. Used to live in Marion Co. But moved back to E KY near Cave Run Lake. Unfortunately I wasn't up at 4 in the morning. May have to do a little night watching again. Will check weather radar for the overnight conditions. Partly cloudy here right now.

reply to post by Tazkven

Did you look at a radar to see where the storms were at? When I look, there are multiple scattered storms in your area. You may not have seen the same flash as her. Admitting that there were storms and lightning in the area, but refusing to believe that this particular flash was lighting, gives me pause.

I think I'll exit that way -------> before it gets deeper.

Originally posted by Rezlooper
My guess, this was another meteor burning up. From what you describe, it makes more sense than a 30 mile lightning.

You must not've read what he described, because you would've seen that he described the flash as lasting for less than a second. Nowhere near the amount of time for a meteor to track across the sky. But definitely the speed of lightning.

reply to post by Rezlooper


Yes, when I walked out the door it was 50 degrees and cloudy, I always observe the stars when I leave and there was none this morning. Moving from the city to the country is amazing, no light saturation and bright stars, can't help but notice.

I am totally open to it being lightning and at first chaulked it up as that but it was unusually bright, honestly the first thing that popped in my brain is wow, that is what a nuke must look like, except it was white and then my brain drifted to Louisville being under attack ... I know I read to many ATS threads

But what floored me is Rebecca texting me about it seconds later, saying how it lit up the shade and shined light around it evenly and her being 20 miles away, I was wowed ... Like I said I never knew lightning traveled that far and stayed that bright.

reply to post by SunflowerStar


Hi, neighbor!

Just wanted to add this piece of information before I exit this thread:

From the NOAA's website:

How far can lightning strike?

Almost all lightning will occur within 10 miles of its parent thunderstorm, but it CAN strike much farther than that. Lightning detection equipment has confirmed bolts striking almost 50 miles away.

You saw lightning. Admit it and have a great day at work.

Originally posted by Tazkven
reply to post by _BoneZ_

 

The lightning flashes I saw over Louisville were cloud to cloud and clearly visable, but no where near as bright.

Which of course Louisville is 60 miles away from home, Louisville is not on the map below ...

The black circle I estimate to be 30+ some odd miles, from the bottom red circle to the middle red circle about 20 miles.

The bottom red and center red circles the flash was just as bright as daylight, I cannot account for the top red circle but I would assume it was the same intensity as up to that point there was no visable lightning up to that point and you can't see the lightning from Louisville anyways because of the hills.

I was unaware that lightning would travel that far and be that bright over atleast 20+ miles, What got me is her sending me a text seconds later seeing the same flash 20 miles away at the same time and lit up the window like daylight as it did inside my vehicle.

That was one heck of a bolt of lightning making no noise, 60 miles from the storm and traveling at least 30 miles ...

20 miles is not really a great distance, neither is 30 or 60 miles when viewing phenomena in the sky which could be 60+miles up.

I have experienced lightning strikes so bright that if the light was as intense for more than just a flash we would have to develop new ways of seeing as the intensity would be blinding.

Originally posted by _BoneZ_
reply to post by Tazkven

 

I think I'll exit that way -------> before it gets deeper.

I am not saying it wasn't lightning, but ...

I kid, I kid ... Just saying if it was lightning that was one heck of a silent bolt and was seriously bright, day light bright stretching over 30 miles. I have never heard of such a thing and I quickly researched it before I posted and did not find any info of bolts being that long.

Originally posted by _BoneZ_
Just wanted to add this piece of information before I exit this thread:

From the NOAA's website:

How far can lightning strike?

Almost all lightning will occur within 10 miles of its parent thunderstorm, but it CAN strike much farther than that. Lightning detection equipment has confirmed bolts striking almost 50 miles away.

You saw lightning. Admit it and have a great day at work.

Very well could have, and I have no doubts that lightning can strike far away from a storm ... I am talking about a 30+ mile long bolt being bright as day at least 20 -30 miles apart from each other, I find it fascinating and have never heard of that.

This was posted today from the midlands UK and may be the very same thing you saw, i personally remain open minded like the witness, i did not see it myself, but thought it may be related so would share the link.
Strange Flash

Originally posted by _BoneZ_
You must not've read what he described, because you would've seen that he described the flash as lasting for less than a second. Nowhere near the amount of time for a meteor to track across the sky. But definitely the speed of lightning.

A meteor does not have to track across the sky to produce a flash - not every bright meteor is like the one in Russia. The vast majority of meteors last under a second irrespective of brightness, so it is a possibility.

Another possibility is a transformer going "boom". They can produce similar flashes to lightning and meteors, which can be seen for tens of km, and can light up the entire sky.

So I would say 3 possible explanations at least.

Originally posted by FireballStorm
Another possibility is a transformer going "boom". They can produce similar flashes to lightning and meteors, which can be seen for tens of km, and can light up the entire sky.

But you still didn't read everything in his description. He said the flash traveled from left to right, tree-line to tree-line. That is something that crossed the sky from left to right. A transformer blowing will have a localized flash in one location, not going across the entire sky from left to right in a second or less.

Originally posted by FireballStorm
So I would say 3 possible explanations at least.

Since meteors can't track across the sky in a second or less, and a flash from a transformer blowing won't cause a flash to travel from left to right across the entire sky, that only leaves one possible explanation:

LIGHTNING! Let it go already.

Originally posted by Tazkven

Gawd, you gotta love that hair!

reply to post by _BoneZ_


I was trying to describe that the entire sky for a split second was lit up, white daylight, not that it traveled from left to right.

Was like a super bright LED flash lighting up everything, no traveling, it was on and off in under a second ... That is why I am amazed of its length, if it was a bolt over 30 miles long instantly, was dark, the flash and in less than a second was dark again and within seconds I got a text from 20 miles away telling me exactly what it was I saw.

I say 30 miles because of the guy at the Pilot station but in all fairness I can't say he saw exactly what it was we saw, although up to that point there was no lightning or flashes and I was closer to his location then I was to hers so I believe what he saw was what we saw ...

Of course you don't know her but she don't subscribe to conspiracys or crazyness, she don't believe in ghosts or UFOs ... She is really down to earth and based in reality. Lived in the country all her life and used to storms and lightning. She saw exactly what I saw 20 miles away ...

She is left, I am right ...


Alot of our text is mixed with mushy unrelated stuff I cut out


Yea, lots of typos ... we don't care


I do not know what it was and leave it to anyone to draw their own conclusions, all I do know it was freaking weird.

Originally posted by _BoneZ_

Originally posted by Rezlooper
My guess, this was another meteor burning up. From what you describe, it makes more sense than a 30 mile lightning.

You must not've read what he described, because you would've seen that he described the flash as lasting for less than a second. Nowhere near the amount of time for a meteor to track across the sky. But definitely the speed of lightning.

I didn't say the flash was a fireball streaking across the sky. A flash like this would be another explosion but a lot less powerful than the Russian meteor and a lot higher in the atmosphere...mesosphere is 60 miles up, so not likely to hear the explosion or shockwave.

Very good presentation and follow-up. I also commend you on a well written story to start the thread; good use of imagery to establish the context of your observation.

I prefer to keep an open mind about anything like this. I don't like jumping to conclusions about whether this is a natural everyday phenomena, or a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Especially if someone else thinks it's a noteworthy event. So I think it's worthy of additional research.

The University of Washington in Seattle hosts the World Wide Lightning Location Network: WWLL Network. It'd be worth correlating your experience with their records. That might give you a better indication of whether this may have been a lightening stroke or not.

Also, the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope is capable of measuring Terrestrial Gamma Ray Bursts that are related to large lightning strokes. I don't know if they have any real-time data available or not. Might be worth checking out.

Here's some more interesting info about this phenomena: NASA Antimatter Explosion Video

Keep up the good work and don't let the naysayers discourage you. That is what this website is all about.

Dex