I was driving down the road after buying some beers from Tesco – residential quiet road with detached houses – heard a weird pop and saw a sort of plasma blue flash in in the rear view window. No thunder that I heard. It was so bizarre I was going to flag the mini down behind me to see what he/she saw, just drove home instead. Car seems fine! Any ideas? It’s very strange. Definitely wasn’t normal lighting in the sky.

heard a weird pop and saw a sort of plasma blue flash

I need your clothes, your boots and your motorcar

Aliens innit.

Your arse’ll be stinging in the morning

Detached houses you say? That changes my answer..

beers in the car too..makes you wonder.

Could be Ball lightning? Its weird stuff. Saw it in France once associated with a thunder storm. Multiple balls of plasma forming in and under clouds and staying for ages. They have been seen at various levels.

You were tasered, but failed to stop.

cbike: I’ve seen that twice before and was thinking the same thing. Sailors called it St Elmo’s Fire. Really weird. I wished I stopped that mini now to see that it looked like from their perspective.

heard a weird pop and saw a sort of plasma blue flash in in the rear view window.

How far above the speed limit were you at the time?

Could be Ball lightning?

wearing nylon shorts on the way home from a curry ?

How far above the speed limit were you at the time?

Ah the Delorean.

Cougar, I drive like a saint. Below the speed limit and no speed cameras anyway.

Er, I think Cougar suspected flux capacitor activation rather than a GATSO

heard a weird pop and saw a sort of plasma blue flash in in the rear view window.

As long as you didn’t follow through, it’s not a shart.

Does sound a bit like St Elmo’s fire. My dad was an RAF pilot, and used to see it round the cockpit when flying in thunderstorms.

I don’t understand physics though so I also like the nylon shorts theory.

Maybe you died and the afterlife is just the stw forum?

I was driving down the road after buying some beers from Tesco – residential quiet road with detached houses –

Strange that the incident didn’t give you a semi.

Didn’t happen till your mum walked past.

Have you checked that you’re still in the same year as you were yesterday?

Overhead power lines arcing? Not sure about here in the UK, but is a common occurance where I grew up in Texas. Lines (neighborhood power, not high voltage) brush up against a tree branch or similar in high winds, and arc and pop as you drescribe.

Could be a pole top transformer* going pop.

That would give you precisely that effect. I saw it happen recently.

*Dunno the technical name

Maybe you died and the afterlife is just the stw forum?

There is a hell, after all….

wearing nylon shorts on the way home from a curry ?

Couldn’t have been, shorts not allowed

I was in a church once sheltering from a storm on a cycle tour when it got hit by lightning – it was really clear what had happened but I’m damned if I could describe it to you clearly. We just sort of knew. Everything went white and there was a bit of a sound, but that might have been because the church was so echoy.

Everything went white and there was a bit of a sound, but that might have been because the church was so echoy. we had displeased the gods.

Ftfy

I was once stood about a hundred yards from a tree when it got struck – what I remember most clearly was that I was cowering on the ground before I had even recognised that there was a very loud bang and realised what it was. It was loud…

Everything went white and there was a bit of a sound, but that might have been because we had displeased the gods.

The normal ‘burst into flames’ on the Church threshold defence mechanism must’ve been on the blink.

I’ve been in a car struck by lightning, the flash and bang were simultaneous and it was loud. This was on a freeway in Texas, it was not raining but you could see the clouds and lightning.

I imagine you’d know if the car was struck. It’s loud. You could have a look over the top to see if you can find any small burn marks from the lightning entry / exit points.

Was standing on the other side of the road from a lightning strike a few years ago. Was deafened for a few minutes and the sheer power of it was jaw-dropping. Purple flash (you could almost taste it, even if that sounds an idiotic thing to say) and the ground shook.

Today’s random lightning fact of the day.

The temperature increase in the aluminium conduction tape of a buildings lightning protection system during a lightning strike is approximately 0.3 degrees C.

Hmm interesting points. I think I was under some overhead lines.

are you taking your Teenage Mother to the Enchantment under the Sea dance tonight?

How far above the speed limit were you at the time?

Were you doing 88 miles per hour?

Our house was struck two nights ago. Fried the alarm system (it hit the outside bell) and the thunder clap made the patio doors flex about an inch, im amazed they didnt shatter. It was one hell of a bang.

Was SaxonRider giving you a lift back from a Joe Cocker gig?

Was SaxonRider giving you a lift back from a Joe Cocker gig?

You know he’s dead, right?

You know he’s dead, right?

What? Saxon Rider?

That is grave news indeed.

Probably best to stay in your car if there’s lightning going on

Were you doing 88 miles per hour?

Merde, beat me to it!

There weren’t any naked people wandering about afterwards were there?