National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Storm Impacting the Northwest U.S.; Fire Weather Conditions in Southern California; Severe Weather in the South

A Pacific storm is bringing areas of low elevation rain, moderate to heavy mountain snow, and high winds to the Northwest. Strong Santa Ana winds and very dry conditions are producing elevated to critical fire weather conditions in southern California. Isolated strong to severe thunderstorms are possible through early Wednesday morning across parts of northeast Texas into western Tennessee. Read More >

 

Plane Being Struck by a Lightning Flash

The images below show an aircraft being affected by a lightning flash. To the authors knowledge, nobody on the plane was injured. It is unknown if the aircraft experienced any damage. According to the scientist who acquired this imagery, the airplane itself triggered the lightning discharge.

For more detailed information about the imagery below, please read the paper titled:

The interaction of lightning with airborne vehicles.

The imagery below is courtesy of:

Zen Kawasaki
Department of Electrical Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Osaka University
Yamada-Oaka 2-1, Suita, Osaka 565-0871
JAPAN
Phone +81 6 6879 7690
FAX   +81 6 6879 7724

Scroll down to observe lightning flash sequence.

 



 

 

Still imagery of plane being affected by the flash

 



 
 


 
 

"Fast" imagery of plane being affected by the flash.

 


"Slow" imagery of the plane being affected by the flash

 



 

 


Return to the Colorado Lightning Resource Page