Winter Storms and Odd Green Flashes of Light in the Sky

Odd winter storms are not a rarity in the midwest by any stretch of the imagination and a recent storm was no differnt. Last weekend the Midwest was hit by one of the harshest winter storms in years. Saturday started off pretty much as usual. We had been warned for days of the upcoming storm from weathermen to newspaper reporters so when Saturday began with an odd colored sky, it wasn't entirely a surprise.

As the day went on it became slowly a bit darker in the west with a tinge of grayish green in the sky, but other than that and constant updates by the local weather man, most residents would have been hard pressed to know a storm of great magnitude was on it's way simply by observation alone. In fact, had it NOT been for the weather bureau forewarning residents that an ice storm with high winds and snow to follow was to hit the area, many would have been caught unawares of the storm to come. It brought to mind for this writer, the horror early settlers must have felt when storms like this came upon them. In those days of course, they had no forewarning by the weather man and no quick trip to the corner store for extra batteries and flashlights. All they could do was hunker down and hope for the best. And this past weekend, many Iowan's were swept back to a time of chilly fear and edgy anticipation of what was to come.

At about 5:06 CST, on Saturday afternoon, the lights in my neighborhood, flickered once, twice and on the third time, went out completely, leaving all within sight dark and without power of any kind except for the errant candle or lantern quick thinking residents had on hand. This household wasn't quite as prepared for the outage as others. We had heard the ice coming down and in fact, had experienced the sharp crack of a limb falling from a tree in the backyard. But that didn't really concern us, after all we're hearty Iowans...we're used to odd weather! In fact, my oldest son and myself even ventured out into the hailstorm to try to move a broken branch from the play yard but upon hearing several more trees cracking and crashing closeby, we decided the safest place for us to be was inside and we left the branch where it was on it's somewhat precarious perch atop the play yard.

What happened next seemed to take forever but in retrospect actually probably only took a matter of minutes. All day long we had had ice forming on anything and everything within its path. Within a matter of minutes, there was a coating of ice about an inch thick on the sidewalk and windows with icicles forming on anything and everything in its' path. The sound of small hail hitting the windows and fireplace flue was like pebbles smacking a teen age girls window...relentless in its brief stay but determined none the less to get the attention of those inside.

I admit, I was paying so much attention to the variety of the sounds of the storm around me, that it didn't dawn on me until later that the sky was darkening much more quickly than usual for that time of day. Luckily I keep all candles in one central location and had restocked my supply of matches earlier in the week. Unfortunately though, somehow the batteries needed for the largest and brightest of flashlights had mysteriously disappeared...remote control trucks came to mind, but at that point, I wasn't in the mood to remind the boys that "borrowing" from the emergency stash of batteries was a big "no, no"....I made a mental note to HIDE the next stash of batteries and leave myself a note in a safe place as to their whereabouts so the next time this happened I wouldn't be digging for batteries by candlelight. After searching the house, I gathered a decent number of flashlights, candles and batteries in one central location and sent the boys to find extra sweatshirts and take the dog out one last time before the house got any colder so we didn't have to open the door unnecessarily and let in more cold air.

About this time, I began to worry about my neighbors and their well being. After a few tries, we finally connected and I found they in fact were in need of some items that I could provide. I met their son on his way across the ice covered lawns and in true teen age fashion he commented, wondering "do you think we'll have school on Monday?". I was worried about pipes freezing and food spoiling and the kid was worried about school....I had to laugh to myself. It was such a typical kid thing to say!

A little later on as night began to descend and we listened to the storm all around us we noticed an odd greenish flash in the sky outside. It happened several times and though we tried to see what it was, we were unable to get a clear view due to the ice formation on the windows. My youngest son thought it looked like "alien lights" described in his goosebumps books....I had no explanation for what it was at that time, but I assured him aliens didn't like ice storms! We all had a good laugh about it, but I must admit I did wonder what it had been!

It wasn't until the next day when I talked to my neighbor that he told me the green light we saw was a power flash. Simply put a power flash or a Flashover is a type of fault or short circuit in the major electrical system of an area, caused by a lightning strike to a live electrical system. Faults which happen on power lines involve enormous levels of current and cause intensely bright arcing, sometimes accompanied by showers of sparks, tremendously loud bangs, pops, sounds like gunshots and buzzing sounds oftentimes lasting for several seconds or more.

Ice storms are also very large producers of power flashes and widespread power outages. The weight of ice can bring down power lines and poles causing power flashes as the electrical lines either snap from the ice or contact with the ground. It is also quite common for Ice-saturated trees or branches to often collapse onto power lines, bringing them down and causing flashovers as they fall.

An educator friend who is a weather/ Science buff (let's call him Mr. P) later gave me some pointers on identifying a power flash as opposed to lightening when it is observed in the sky. I quote him directly from an email he sent me and as he is a Science teacher, I can safely say this is accurate information. He based his explanation from classroom notes as well as the following website and paraphrased it to be more easily understood by my sons. I write it here as he exp-lained it as I found it to be not only easily understood but to the point as well. To see the website he suggests as one of the best with information on "power flashes" go to http://wvlightning.com/powerarc.shtml and read more about this amazing phenomenon.

Observe the color:

Color is the easiest way to tell the difference of apower flashvs. a lightning strike. Lightning is never green or blue green in color, so therefore any flash in the sky of that color will be a power arc. Also a flash that changes color as it flashes is also a way to easily identify a power arc.

Observe the duration of the flash:

Power flashes usually glow and will remain in the sky for a few seconds while a lightning strike will flash quickly and be gone.

Observe the location of the flash:

Power flashes usually originate from one spot on the ground, while lightning will illuminate the clouds more evenly and will move about as the storm moves.

Observe the sound: There will be no thunder associated with a power arc, unless of course a lightning strike was the cause of the arc. A loud buzz or sharp noise like that of a gunshot is a great indication of a power arc, although the sound of an arc usually cannot be heard more than a half mile away from the source of the arc. Seeing an arc from a long distance is not rare, the brightness of the arc is astounding and can be observed for literally miles from the source.

So to sum up our interesting and somewhat eerie experience. The colorful flash we saw was according to my friend, most likely a flashover caused by a transformer blowing due to the ice storm, high winds, tree damage or possibly a combination of all three.

Whatever the case, it was an interesting experience and one I wish I could have seen more clearly. My friend says to experience them the moment they occur is quite rare for the average person and it may be some time before we see one again. Never the less, it was an interesting part of our evening and one we most likely would have not seen had the lights not been out and we hadn't been paying so much attention to the weather outside. As someone once said..."out of disasters can often times come the most interesting things!" I think last Saturday night was a testimony to that statement...at least for this family!