Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Third Monsoon Wave - Spectacular lightning (and I've seen alot)

Third monsoon wave of the season began around Saturday July 20th 2013.  Monday night was the first nighttime thunderstorm in a long time.  Lightning over the Whites east of Bishop moved from north to south and was close enough to hear thunder.  Around 9pm one came overhead. This lightning was not powerful as is with most in-cloud lighting, but it had many arms and tentacles; two in particular were magnificent. 

The first fibrous bolt began to our right, progressing to the left, but before it reached the far left, it abruptly turn directly down to earth towards us; and looked like it was going to grab our face with its spindly
witch-like fingers.  Embarrassingly I ducked as it  pulse towards us with no end in site until it stopped abruptly.
The second overhead bolt was a spectacular display of dendritic lighting.  The bolt was first directed straight towards us creating a circle or dot of intense light; it then exploded into a radiating spoke of lightning that filled the sky above us.  It looked like a perfect circle.