MadSci Network: Earth Sciences
Query:

Re: Why does it turn green outside after a lightning storm?

Date: Tue Oct 6 08:59:54 1998
Posted By: Steve Czarnecki, senior technical staff member, Lockheed Martin
Area of science: Earth Sciences
ID: 901575604.Es
Message:

Eric,

I've seen the sky take on a greenish color once or twice during a thunderstorm; it's a very eerie experience! To get you a good answer on why the green color happens, I passed on your question to our local National Weather Service Office. You should be able to find a Web page for your local NWS office by starting at the home page for the National Weather Service. If you're interested in the weather, you'll find all sorts of interesting information there about weather in your local area.

Now, back to your question. Here's what Jaff Waldstreicher, Science and Operations Officer for the Binghamton, NY NWS Office told me:

"On rare occasion, the sky can appear to have a greenish tinge during a thunderstorm. That is, in most if not all cases, an excellent sign that the storm contains hail, and probably large hail. The greenish color is caused by light (either sunlight, or in some instances the light of a lightning flash), refacting off the large ice particles (chunks?) suspended in the storm. I saw this in 2 different storms on May 31st of this year, and received hail (in West Corners, NY) during both of them (1.5" in diameter from the first one, which produced the tornado further south - we have received numerous reports of 2-2.5" hail across Broome County, NY from this storm, and as large as 4" in diameter in the Deposit, NY area)."

In other words, a green sky is an indicator of an especially nasty, severe storm with damaging hail. The right thing to do under these conditions is to stay indoors in a basement or in an interior room away from windows until the storm passes.

Steve Czarnecki


Current Queue | Current Queue for Earth Sciences | Earth Sciences archives

Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Earth Sciences.



MadSci Home | Information | Search | Random Knowledge Generator | MadSci Archives | Mad Library | MAD Labs | MAD FAQs | Ask a ? | Join Us! | Help Support MadSci


MadSci Network, webadmin@www.madsci.org
© 1995-1998. All rights reserved.