The most incredible light ever...

[mm85]

Just wanted to tell you what I saw tonight for all you candlepower lovers. Tonight I was in the country in a lightning storm, and a huge bolt of lightning struck about 2 miles in front of me. I beleive when it struck, it hit a line, and in turn traveled to another point undetermined but appoximately a mile from the bolt, which exploded approx a half sec later. I'm unsure what blew up at this point about a half sec after the initial strike, but it emitted a huge spark explosion and turned the sky the brightest turqoise color I have ever seen. Not one of you can imagine the true bightness of the sky as I saw it tonight, the sky glew it seemed for almost a second and a half before it dimmed out, the brightest obviously right at the moment of explosion. I don't know what kind of electrical component would burst into this type of light show, but I would say it was the most incredible brightness I have ever experienced, easily brighter than any lightning I have ever seen. Definitely a once in a lifetimer.

[Sigman]

WOW!! (Is "glew' a word? [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img])...GREAT description! I once saw a piece of space junk entering the atmosphere over Phoenix...what a show! I wish I could describe it as well as you described this experience!

Truly a "priceless" moment to treasure!

[Nitroz]

I was at a car dealership and across the street a transformer blew and an extreme turqoise color shot from it. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif[/img]

[jtice]

I was in a buddies back yard, it was around midnight, really dark out.
All of a sudden the ENTIRE sky lit up a bright blue, for a full second to second and a half.

Im not one to get startled, or frightened by much, but this was BIG.
We both abruptly stopped talking, just stairing at the sky.
Patiently waiting for the nuclear shockwave to come rushing by, turning us to a cloud of ash.

Came to find out the next day, it was a tranformer blowing up.
I cant imagine being on the same street when that happened,
it was BRIGHT where we were... about a mile away.

[greenlight]

glew is 4 sniffing

[Eugene]

I worked a retail store years ago when I was in college, one afternoon it was dark and raining and I looked outside and got to see the lightning strike a light pole in the lot then the very top of the light tilted over to the side. Every alarm in the store went off when it hit was funny seeing the big alarm panel behind the service desk lit up, the fire alarms, freezer over temp alarms, emergency exit door alarms, all those.

[doubleganger]

we were out watching a meteor shower when one came in that was so bright it cast shadows.

[The_LED_Museum]

I've seen a couple of meteors like that.
One in the late-1960s in Eureka CA., and another in November 2001 in Seattle WA.

[mm85]

Look what I found, couldn't believe this picture was floating around, it's a transformer exploding and it's definitely what I saw. This picture looks pretty amazing, but as you probably realize, it can't begin to explain what it's like being there when it happens! [img]http://rds.yahoo.com/S=96062883/K=TRANSFORMER+EXPLOSION/v=2/SID=e/l=IVI/SIG=11fvea33r/*-http%3A//www.foxlima.com/Tornado/Blue/91.jpg[/img]

[yuandrew]

Just reminds me of an experience I had one November about 2 years ago.

Anyway, I was at my Aunt's house and it was raining that day. We were just talking then I went to look out the window to see how heavy the rain was. I was looking out the window for just 10 seconds when BUZZZZZ! There was this huge bright white flicker about a block away. Then BAM! there was a huge bluish-white flash and the power went out

Time to get out the flashlights and candles!

[Kryosphinx]

When transformers explode, they make the brightest flash ever!!!! i was about 100 feet away from one when it did. real scary it was..

[sotto]

Scroll down and click on the picture of the exploding transformer in this link for some great pyrotechnics: (warning: 5.1 mb video)

http://205.243.100.155/frames/longarc.htm

[Kirk]

About 25 years ago I was driving home in the dark and saw a brilliant blue flash and then the streetlights went out. Found out the next day a cat had gotten into a power substation and arced itself. OUCH!
Kirk

[riscfaktor]

Last year I was witness to a downed power line across the street from the hotel I was staying at. The line came down before the xfrmer, and the sight and sound of it as it arced along the ground were incredible. It looked/sounded just like an arc welder, except about 1000 times more intense. Each time it would arc it lit up the surroundings like daylight.

[cheesehead]

Kirk,

Ouch, that poor power station.

[Zelandeth]

Well, I'm guessing here...but I figure the reason huge transformers like this create such a bright and distinctively coloured flash is down to the fact that the windings are copper (guess), hence when something gives out you're getting an arc between two copper points. This is sputtered off, introducing that into the arc, giving the green/turquise colour. 100% guesswork, any takers here. Just curious to know why a transformer going out always seems to make a distinctly green flash, unlike anything else.

Lightining at close range is pretty impressive too. This pic shows it hitting a telephone line just behind those bushes. What a noise too.

This was at about three in the morning...needless to say, didn't get much sleep that night. Storm went on for HOURS.

[maddog]

ever see 34.5KV relay?.........now that's a light show!