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Old 04-27-2009, 02:51 AM
AGA AGA started this thread
 
Location: Knoxville, TN
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3 am in Southwest Austin and the sky is flashing like crazy!No thunder, no rain....just a flashing sky. Thought it was a malfunctioning streetlight until I let the dog out and it was the whole sky....Weird! Is this just the storm moving in? HEat lightening looks kinda like it, but this is constant....not like a lightening flash and then wait and then another flash.
Was anyone else awake to see this (darn dog woke me up and now I can't go back to sleep)!
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Old 04-27-2009, 04:37 AM
 
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I hope you got some sleep...
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Old 04-27-2009, 05:59 AM
 
Location: 78747
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I live near OC, and I saw it too - around 4am. Strobe effect of sorts - kinda cool.

with a light rain, hoo-rah.
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Old 04-27-2009, 06:05 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
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Yeah, was up last night (sick, bleah) and saw the stobe effect. You see it occasionally, it is just a very active storm front....
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Old 04-27-2009, 07:07 AM
 
Location: Central Texas
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That was likely sheet lightning ahead of the storm.
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Old 04-27-2009, 07:19 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
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Yep, sounds like sheet lightening. I'm sorry I missed it. I have seen it in the past and an even more mysterious form, ball lightening. Lightning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Old 04-27-2009, 07:34 AM
 
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That is an awesome picture.
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Old 04-27-2009, 08:49 AM
 
Location: Central Texas
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There is no such thing as "heat lightning."
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Old 04-27-2009, 08:53 AM
 
Location: Central Texas
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hoffdano View Post
There is no such thing as "heat lightning."
Sure there is - are at least the American Metereological Society has a definition for it. It's just not caused by heat.
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Old 04-27-2009, 09:07 AM
 
Location: Avery Ranch, Austin, TX
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hoffdano View Post
There is no such thing as "heat lightning."
Thanks for that...any minute someone will quote wiki and we'll all get a failing grade.

The 'sheet' lightning(call it 'heat' if you wish but it's the same stuff if it hits you) is called that because of the appearance of 'sheets' of light, usually from the far-away lightning being reflected by clouds and appearing to be a 'sheet' rather than a bolt. Take away those clouds or move closer to the storm and you have a regular lightning bolt--although much of this type of lightning is cloud-to-cloud rather than cloud to ground. What we saw last night was likely the illumination of the sky and clouds as the storm approached from the NW...less 'sheet-like' as the storm was moving over us.

Still lightning...still hotter than heck...just looks different from different vantage points.
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