We are all familiar with the lightning that comes from thunderstorms, but have you ever seen red sprites and blue jets erupt from a thunderstorm? This phenomenon usually occurs above the thunderstorms so most of us can’t see them unless the storm is far away or you’re in an airplane. Sprites and blue jets are streaks of energy that again tend to erupt from the top of a thunderstorm. Sprites look like a mushroom with the head being a bright red and the stem appears white. These sprites occur at altitudes of 280,000 feet above the surface, which places it in the mesosphere. Blue jets are rarer, and occur mainly in the stratosphere, which is the layer of the atmosphere below the mesosphere. (The troposphere is the layer of the atmosphere that we live in and where all the weather takes place). The streak of light is in the form of a column initially but then as it travels upwards it spreads out. Scientists are still somewhat baffled by this phenomenon, but it appears that sprites occur after the strongest cloud to ground lightning. Cloud to ground lightning as a positive charge and this may temporarily intensify the electric field above the clouds, which in a sense creates a giant spark. These energized electrons then crash into nitrogen molecules, which then produce the reddish light in the mesosphere and blue light in the stratosphere. Sprites and jets are still a big mystery and have only recently been studied.
Weather Last Week
April 14: 23/55/0”
April 15: 20/72/0”
April 16: 27/80/0”
April 17: 31/60/1.9” Snow
April 18: 24/42/0”
April 19: 17/54/0”
April 20: 26/64/0”
Forecast discussion for the week ahead:
A lot of clouds and on and off showers can be expected for the next several days. With the added cloud cover, we’ll be a little cooler than average through the weekend. In fact, we may not make it back into the 60s for highs through Saturday. We’ll try to warm back up Sunday and next week.