During Hurricane Ian, a pilot flying an Airplane from Miami to Denver experienced an unusual meteorological phenomenon described as 'St Elmo's Fire,' resembling purple lightning flashing through the night sky. During thunderstorms, the atmosphere gets charged, causing an electrostatic force of plasma between an item and the air around it.
The plane's pilot, Luis Andress, recently recalled the story, remarking that it was the first instance he had seen St. Elmo's fire with so much 'intensity.' Hurricane Ian, which made landfall in Florida on Sept 28, was the state's worst storm since the Labor Day hurricane of 1935.
Andress stated that he resided in Florida and took the MIA-DEN on the same day that Hurricane Ian passed. He described the sight of St. Elmo's Fire as spectacular. 'It was such a spectacle,' Andress remarked in a statement obtained by SWNS. The pilot was impressed since it was his first time witnessing the phenomena with such intensity.
Elmo's Fire: Blazing Origin and Formation
Hurricane Ian, which damaged heavily populated parts of southwest Florida, notably Naples and Fort Myers, flooded coastal and interior settlements, although wind damage was comparably less severe. The storm caused $1.1 billion to $1.8 billion in economic damage to the state's agricultural technology.
In a DailyMail report, Gesta Herwardi, a sailor & Anglo-Saxon nobleman, was the first to chronicle the occurrence experienced during Hurricane Ian. St. Elmo's Fire was subsequently called well after the patron saint of sailors, St Erasmus of Formia, often known as St Elmo, and the 'Fire' is because it seems to be a flame flashing through the night sky.
Thunderstorms generate an electrical discharge, blue light, or plasma to form. As a storm swells in size, friction intensifies, causing tremendous electric fields which can move from the cloud to the earth, as WNCT reports. An electric field transforms air into plasma by introducing a high voltage that rips away air molecules. Finally, a corona discharge is known as St. Elmo's fire.
A pilot witnessed the event while flying an Airbus from Miami to Dallas during Hurricane Ian hit Florida in September.
The Fire That Inclined to Inclimate Weather
St. Elmo's Fire is commonly visible during thunderstorms when the earth underneath the storm is electrically charged and there is high voltage in the air between the cloud and the ground.
A military aircrew witnessed the event in 2020 and documented their experience via a video posted online. The RAF stated that the C-17 crew encountered it while flying in the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) at night. The brief video shows the black sky lighting up with bursts of purple charges.
When the electrical charge on an airplane grows sufficiently strong, a visible light electrical discharge is noticed surrounding components of the aircraft. Similar to the light from a neon tube in appearance, and frequently seen as brushlike flame jets extending from the tip of an aerial, wing, propeller, windscreen, or other portion of an aircraft.
St Elmo's Fire, while not a threat in and of itself, is a sign of Thunderstorm activity and may be a prelude to a Lightning strike. Skybrary stated in a report that St. Elmo's Fire may be audible "singing" on the aircraft's radar, a sizzling or hissing sound that runs up and down the musical scale.
RELATED ARTICLE: Hurricane Nicole Induced Rare Sprite Lighting Seen in Puerto Rico, Moments Before Hitting Florida [Look]
Check out more news and information on Tropical Cyclones in Science Times.
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