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[I] Aerial Visions

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John.S.Macrae

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May 12, 2012, 5:15:43 PM5/12/12
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Some years ago I recieved a phonecall from a friend of mine enqiuiring
whether I had noticed something peculiar in the sky roughly in the
direction of the Forth Bridges.

As I was facingin the wrong direction at the time I got up from the
computer and opened the curtain in the relevant direction.

Fortunately, the object was high enough to be visible over the
buildings across the street, and was glowing impressively in the
sunset.

I was not sure when, if ever, I had seen one for real rather than in
illustration, but immediately recognised it for what it was, and the
probable implications thereof.

Calling Danny back, I informed him that 'What we have here is a
classic lenticular ice cloud, and a rather beautiful example, quite as
perfect as the best illustrations I have seen'.

I also opined that I was convinced that we could expect that a spate
of UFO reports would ensue.[1]

John.
[1] I was proven correct on both points[2]
[2] Smug git (before anyone else says it).[3]
[3] I am entitled to, so there!

GaryN

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May 12, 2012, 7:56:54 PM5/12/12
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John.S.Macrae <john.s...@virginmedia.com> wrote in
news:uogtq71gb08jop76e...@4ax.com:

<snip>

> I also opined that I was convinced that we could expect that a spate
> of UFO reports would ensue.[1]
>
> John.
> [1] I was proven correct on both points[2]
> [2] Smug git (before anyone else says it).[3]
> [3] I am entitled to, so there!
>

Closest I can come is that back in the 80s in Kent I watched two storms
collide and the high altitude storm sent pink fork lighting through blue
sheet lightning in the lower storm front.

Since I'm not an atmosphere expert I have no idea how that could happen,
and I don't think it's supposed to, but it did.

And no. I was neither drunk nor drugged. Really happened.

Spectacular display. Several of us stood in the rain for 20 minutes to
watch, Never seen anything like it before or since.

Sometimes you get a one-off and it never leaves.

gary
--
"If it's political it ain't correct mate, those two words don't fucking
fit"

Kevin Bloody Wilson.

John S. Wilkins

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May 12, 2012, 8:29:01 PM5/12/12
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GaryN <webm...@oxtoyrun.org.uk> wrote:

> John.S.Macrae <john.s...@virginmedia.com> wrote in
> news:uogtq71gb08jop76e...@4ax.com:
>
> <snip>
>
> > I also opined that I was convinced that we could expect that a spate
> > of UFO reports would ensue.[1]
> >
> > John.
> > [1] I was proven correct on both points[2]
> > [2] Smug git (before anyone else says it).[3]
> > [3] I am entitled to, so there!
> >
>
> Closest I can come is that back in the 80s in Kent I watched two storms
> collide and the high altitude storm sent pink fork lighting through blue
> sheet lightning in the lower storm front.
>
> Since I'm not an atmosphere expert I have no idea how that could happen,
> and I don't think it's supposed to, but it did.
>
> And no. I was neither drunk nor drugged. Really happened.
>
> Spectacular display. Several of us stood in the rain for 20 minutes to
> watch, Never seen anything like it before or since.
>
> Sometimes you get a one-off and it never leaves.
>
Back around 1968 or 69 I was a callow youth who liked to climb onto the
roof to watch lightning (no I never got hit, and it doesn't explain a
lot, shut up you lot in the back). I figured it was free entertainment.

One night I watch a ball of glowing bright light about 2m across slowly
and erratically move across the sky at about 100m high, leaving a trail
behind it that faded. Then it went *poof* (I even heard it) and
disappeared. "Cool," I thought, "I have finally seen a UFO."

About five years later I read an article debating the existence of ball
lightning. I felt very smug then (and now, of course).

--
John S. Wilkins, Associate, Philosophy, University of Sydney
http://evolvingthoughts.net
But al be that he was a philosophre,
Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre

Lesley Weston

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May 13, 2012, 9:53:04 AM5/13/12
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Oxford is at the bottom of a bowl of hills, so storms get caught up and
circulate for ever before they find a way out, developing the most
spectacular lightning as they go. Vancouver is on the coast, so storms
sweep in off the Pacific and straight up the Fraser Valley; there's
hardly ever any lightning. I miss it.

Lesley.

--
This address is real, but to reach me use leswes att shaw dott ca

Nigel Stapley

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May 13, 2012, 9:59:52 AM5/13/12
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Ditto with Aldershot and the area between the North & South Downs.

--
Regards

Nigel Stapley

www.thejudge.me.uk

<reply-to will bounce>

GaryN

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May 13, 2012, 10:09:18 AM5/13/12
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jo...@wilkins.id.au (John S. Wilkins) wrote in news:1kk13n0.3ejqfbtp1u26N%
jo...@wilkins.id.au:
I've never seen ball lightning and I'm not sure I want to. I believe it's
existence is now accepted as fact but AIUI behavior is unpredictably
erratic and the usual precautions during electrical storms like "Don't
stand under a tree" and "Don't stand on a hilltop waving a copper rod
shouting 'All Gods are Bastards'" are useless against ball lightning.

It's certainly regarded as a major threat in "Shades of Grey" by Jasper
Fforde[1] who descibes its random movement in loving detail.

I love the account from the Eastern Airlines jet in

http://www.weatherquesting.com/ball-lightning.htm

"Where are the bloody parachutes!" would have been my question.

Still don't understand how one storm can throw one type of lightning
through another type of lightning though, that was strange.

gary

P.S. John, your stick is packed and will be shipped as 2 packages when my
finances turn up on Thursday. Probably be some delay with DAFF but
hopefully you should have it by end of the month. Some assembly required
according to your taste. If I fall under a bus in the meantime the SO has
the address and will deal with it.

[1]Which I thoroughly recommend BTW.

Jessie_C

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May 13, 2012, 12:00:35 PM5/13/12
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In article <jooec1$4nl$1...@mud.stack.nl>, brightly_co...@yahoo.co.uk
says...
> Vancouver is on the coast, so storms
> sweep in off the Pacific and straight up the Fraser Valley; there's
> hardly ever any lightning. I miss it.
>
When I was a wee thing I lived for four years in Winterpeg. Prairie
thunderstorms are spectacular, with a chance of tornados. Our pathetic little
Pacific Thunderstorms which grumble and mutter for 15 minutes or so are merely
sparks compared to them.

A few years ago I was flying home from Tronna and got to see a couple of
spectacular thunderstorms over Calgary that we flew right between. It was just
at sunset so the orange light baacklighting the purple clouds combined with the
lightning to make an unforgettable lightshow.

Jessie_C

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May 13, 2012, 12:05:06 PM5/13/12
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In article <XnsA0529A28B788D...@216.196.109.145>,
webm...@oxtoyrun.org.uk says...
> Still don't understand how one storm can throw one type of lightning
> through another type of lightning though, that was strange.
>
There is only one type of lightning. What is commonly referred to as "sheet
lightning" is in reality merely clouds lit from the inside by fork lightning.
So you saw fork lightning appearing to go through backlit clouds. That also
explains the blue colour; it's the clouds lighting up. Not quite as magical as
what you describe, but still spectacular : )

GaryN

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May 13, 2012, 10:59:25 PM5/13/12
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<Jessie_C> wrote in news:MPG.2a197b8bc...@news.supernews.com:
Sorry Jessie but I have to disagree. Sheet lightning spreads through
the cloud cover but poses no threat on the ground. Fork lightning is
dangerous because it hits the ground (Yeah OK the first pulse is ground>
cloud - not completely ignorant!).

Then there's ball lightning as discussed above.

I saw blue sheet lightning pierced by pink fork lightning. May sound
like Hollywood but that's what happened. Saying it aint so is like the
rube in the zoo seeing a giraffe. "Aint no such animal". Never seen it
before or since.

Odd fact. Regulars have heard me speak of Chapel Bank before now. It's
got the standard Yew trees but even in the most violent storms there has
never been a lightning strike there in over 250 years.

I was there a several years ago; it's still a very strange place and you
don't take down a church stone by stone and rebuild it on the floodplain
1/2mile away without a bloody good reason. The woman I was with, a hard
as nails off-licence manager(ess), wanted to leave almost as soon as we
got there.

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=592500&y=129500&z=120
&sv=chapel+bank&st=3&tl=Map+of+Chapel+Bank,
+Kent+&searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf

If you go don't go on your own. I'm serious. There is something *WRONG*
with that place. And unlike Pluckley "The most haunted village in
Kent" you don't have to wait for dark.

Probably better to just not go there, and this is the big rufty tufty
(but cuddly sometimes) biker who's not scared of anything saying so.

gary

Jessie_C

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May 14, 2012, 12:26:38 AM5/14/12
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In article <XnsA053289542DAA...@216.196.109.145>,
webm...@oxtoyrun.org.uk says...
> Sorry Jessie but I have to disagree. Sheet lightning spreads through
> the cloud cover but poses no threat on the ground.
>

Still I have to disagree with your disagreement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning#Sheet_lightning
"Sheet lightning is an informal name for cloud-to-cloud lightning that exhibits
a diffuse brightening of the surface of a cloud, caused by the actual discharge
path being hidden. The lightning itself cannot be seen by the spectator, so it
appears as only a flash, or a sheet of light."

Sheet lightning is clouds being lit up like flashbulbs by regular fork
lightning within the clouds. Okay, it's not cloud-to-ground, but it's not a
different kind of lightning.

The colours were probably caused by unique atmospheric conditions that could
likely never be duplicated. Pity.

Nigel Stapley

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May 14, 2012, 2:05:54 AM5/14/12
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GaryN wrote:

>
> Odd fact. Regulars have heard me speak of Chapel Bank before now. It's
> got the standard Yew trees but even in the most violent storms there has
> never been a lightning strike there in over 250 years.
>
> I was there a several years ago; it's still a very strange place and you
> don't take down a church stone by stone and rebuild it on the floodplain
> 1/2mile away without a bloody good reason. The woman I was with, a hard
> as nails off-licence manager(ess), wanted to leave almost as soon as we
> got there.
>
> http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=592500&y=129500&z=120
> &sv=chapel+bank&st=3&tl=Map+of+Chapel+Bank,
> +Kent+&searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf
>

Hmm...my paternal great-grandmother Louisa Bryant was from near there
(Rolvenden).

GaryN

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May 14, 2012, 9:55:12 AM5/14/12
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Nigel Stapley <un...@judgemental.plus.com> wrote in
news:s9adnQfV0sggPS3S...@brightview.co.uk:
My grandmother died in a care home in Rolvenden. I was born in Kench Hill

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=590500&y=132500&z=120
&sv=kench+hill&st=3&tl=Map+of+Kench+Hill,
+Kent+&searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf

Small world isn't it? Nice village Rolvenden, lot better than Tenterden.
Until the mid 90's I'd spent my life in that part of the country.

Used to ride to work past the Biddenden Maids and the Three Chimneys (Les
Trois Chemins) pub. Interesting stories behind both of those.

Oh, I recommend the 3 Chimneys if you happen to be in the area. Food and
beer are excellent, or they were a couple of years ago!
http://thethreechimneys.co.uk/about.html

GaryN

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May 14, 2012, 10:04:49 AM5/14/12
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<Jessie_C> wrote in news:MPG.2a1a2918e...@news.supernews.com:
I'm certainly not going to bother arguing about it, I saw what I saw.
In this case it was a high altitude storm running over a low altitude.
Who did what is anyones guess.

More spectacular lightshow than any Olympic opening ceremony.

And yes, highly unlikely I'll see the like again but at least I saw it
that time. Back in the dark ages of the 80's we didn't have digital
cameras or mobile phone. I'd have got pictures and had a t-shirt
made..:-)

Lesley Weston

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May 14, 2012, 11:35:03 AM5/14/12
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On 05-13-12 9:00 AM, Jessie_C wrote:
> In article<jooec1$4nl$1...@mud.stack.nl>, brightly_co...@yahoo.co.uk
> says...
>> Vancouver is on the coast, so storms
>> sweep in off the Pacific and straight up the Fraser Valley; there's
>> hardly ever any lightning. I miss it.
>>
> When I was a wee thing I lived for four years in Winterpeg. Prairie
> thunderstorms are spectacular, with a chance of tornados. Our pathetic little
> Pacific Thunderstorms which grumble and mutter for 15 minutes or so are merely
> sparks compared to them.

One of the very few reasons to live in the prairies.
>
> A few years ago I was flying home from Tronna and got to see a couple of
> spectacular thunderstorms over Calgary that we flew right between. It was just
> at sunset so the orange light baacklighting the purple clouds combined with the
> lightning to make an unforgettable lightshow.

Wow!

Nigel Stapley

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May 14, 2012, 12:59:19 PM5/14/12
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Louisa 'married out', as the Jews say; my great-grandfather Alfred
Stapley was from just over the county boundary in Sedlescombe. They
lived in Hastings until they (and most of their children) came up here
in the 1890s.

I just wish I could prove direct descent from Anthony "The Regicide"
Stapley (1590-1654), but I think that was another branch, and I suspect
such distinction is not mine to inherit.

John.S.Macrae

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May 14, 2012, 2:59:45 PM5/14/12
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On Mon, 14 May 2012 08:55:12 -0500, GaryN <webm...@oxtoyrun.org.uk>
wrote:

>
>Oh, I recommend the 3 Chimneys if you happen to be in the area. Food and
>beer are excellent, or they were a couple of years ago!
>http://thethreechimneys.co.uk/about.html
>
>gary
Good call.

I'll bear that in mind when next I visit my brother in Ashford.
Always glad to hear of Decent Pub Grub.


A further memory from Way Back When.[1]

I was out on the Cromarty Firth nearer to Nigg, late summer, when the sun
was going down behind Ben Wyvis.[2]

The sky to the west, horizon to horizon,[3] was completely filled with
what can only be described as cauliflower[4] cloud.

Is there anyone here who remembers cinemas with curtains acrioss the
screen? The gauze drape ones which were illuminated top and bottom with
adjustable floods to entertain during intermissions??

Anyway, the clouds started red on top and black underneath and as I
watched, the lighting transited to black on top and red below similarly to
the aforementioned cinema display.

I was wishing that I had a camera with me, but realised that it would have
been totally impossible to do the sight justice. It would have needed
something like the Ommnimax with its 360degree dome to do that.

It was however incredibly beautiful and impossible to forget.

Just the ramblings of another BOF.[5]

John.
[1] late 70s early 80s FWIW
[2] Perhaps nearer to Fyrish
[3] From my POV
[4] No doubt there is a technical term for it
[5] Improvement? Or not, from my previous OLFs from my Demon days.

Robert Carnegie

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May 14, 2012, 4:09:16 PM5/14/12
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And "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" was just
being read on BBC Radio 4 Extra, so you're
laying it on a bit thick?? :-)

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