[meteorite-list] Alabama Superbolide of Dec.5, 1999 --Coldwater, AL?

From: Mark Jackson <b0rtz2003_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:21:04 2004
Message-ID: <20030714232110.27056.qmail_at_web60003.mail.yahoo.com>

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New Holland, PA strikes a memory in my mind of camping as a teen near Maple Grove, PA. This had to be in the 1977 to 1980 timeframe; I'm not certain how far the DoD data goes back. We were surrounded entirely by forest so no direct observation was possible. The forest floor, however, was suddenly brightly lit by a blue-white light. The light was accompanied by a hissing-sputtering sound. The apparent progression of the tree shadows indicated roughly west to east travel. The event lasted 8 to 10 seconds, with no apparent terminus (explosion or breakup). No color change of the cast light was noticed.
 
On another unrelated but exciting observation about 4-5 months ago, in the desert west of Phoenix, I got to see ball lightning / St. Elmo's fire. I'm here to tell you that this was REALLY weird stuff. We were driving I-10 in a pretty bad thunderstorm cell; a bolt of lightning apparently touched down about 2 miles ahead in the median. It seemed like it was hitting a roadside sign. How I could tell that from 2 miles I can't say. When the lightning bolt terminated, it left a brilliant ball of lighting on whatever it had struck. The ball just stayed put for several seconds then started to move. Keep in mind that this thing is so bright that it's lighting up the sky. It moved out of our direct line of sight but we could still see the reflected light from the clouds (very weird). Then the light began changing from yellow to green to blue to red slowly over a 2 minute period. We still couldn't see the thing directly by this time. Then it extinguished. Then we ran into the most blinding
 downpour imaginable. Had to stop the car in the middle of I-10 (couldn't see the shoulder). Another observation . . . we never saw another bolt of lightining that night.
 
Doo - DOO - Doo - Doo, Doo - DOO - Doo - Doo
 
Mark


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<DIV>New Holland, PA strikes a memory in my mind of camping as a teen near Maple Grove, PA. This had to be in the 1977 to 1980 timeframe; I'm not certain how far the DoD data goes back. We were surrounded entirely by forest so no&nbsp;direct observation was possible. The forest floor, however, was suddenly brightly lit by a blue-white light. The light was accompanied by a hissing-sputtering sound. The apparent progression of the tree shadows&nbsp;indicated roughly west to east travel. The event&nbsp;lasted 8 to 10 seconds, with no apparent terminus (explosion or breakup). No color change of the cast light was noticed.</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>On another unrelated but exciting observation about 4-5 months ago, in the desert west of Phoenix, I got to see ball lightning / St. Elmo's fire. I'm here to tell you that this was REALLY weird stuff. We were driving I-10 in a pretty bad thunderstorm cell; a bolt of lightning apparently touched down about 2 miles ahead in the median. It seemed like it was hitting a roadside sign. How I could tell that from 2 miles I can't say. When the lightning bolt terminated, it left a brilliant ball of lighting on whatever it had struck. The ball just stayed put for several seconds then started to move. Keep in mind that this thing is so bright that it's lighting up the sky. It moved out of our direct line of sight but we could still see the reflected light from the clouds (very weird). Then the light began changing from yellow to green to blue to red slowly over a 2 minute period. We still couldn't see the thing directly by this time. Then it extinguished. Then we ran into the most blinding
 downpour imaginable. Had to stop the car in the middle of I-10 (couldn't see the shoulder). Another observation . . . we never saw another bolt of lightining that night.</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>Doo - DOO - Doo - Doo, Doo - DOO - Doo - Doo</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>Mark</DIV><p><hr SIZE=1>
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Received on Mon 14 Jul 2003 07:21:10 PM PDT