Pilot records rare lightning-like phenomenon from cockpit. Watch

An incredible video of a lightning-like phenomenon has left people surprised and mesmerised. The video captures a weather phenomenon called St. Elmo’s fire where flashes of apparent lightning appear across the sky.

The video was posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) by MacDill Air Force Base. The incident took place when the base was being evacuated ahead of Hurricane Idalia.

“All aircraft on the installation have been evacuated/secured in preparation for #HurricaneIdalia . During the evacuation, the 50th ARS recorded St. Elmo’s fire, a weather phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created in an atmospheric electric field,” reads the caption posted along with the video.

What is St. Elmo’s fire?

The stunning phenomenon that usually occurs during a thunderstorm is not really lighting. According to an article published by MIT, it happens when a sharp object, like the tip of an airplane wing, comes in contact with a strong electrically charged environment.

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“Within a storm cloud, friction can build up to produce extra electrons, creating an electric field that can reach all the way to the ground. If that field is strong enough, it can break apart surrounding air molecules, turning neutral air into a charged gas, or plasma. This process most often occurs around sharp, conductive objects such as cell towers and wing tips, as these pointed structures tend to concentrate the electric field in a way that electrons are pulled from surrounding air molecules toward the pointed structures, leaving behind a veil of positively charged plasma immediately around the sharp object,” the article added.

Why is it called St. Elmo’s fire?

Sailors sailing across the seas have observed this phenomenon for centuries, reports CNN. Somewhere down the line, they decided to call it St. Elmo’s fire after Erasmus of Formia, the Christian saint of sailors.

What does the video show?

The video, taken from inside a cockpit, opens to show the pitch black night sky. However, within moments bluish-violet flashes are seen across the sky. The sound of heavy rain accompanying the lightning-like flashes makes the video even more fascinating to watch.

Take a look at this video of St. Elmo’s fire:

The video was shared on August 30. Since then, the clip has accumulated close to 9.4 lakh views. The share has also received more than 6,200 likes. People posted varied comments while reacting to the video.

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“Amazing, is this coming off the aircraft’s windshield wipers or is it out in the far distance?” asked an X user. “That’s wild,” added another. “Looks like a Tesla coil arc,” joined a third. “The lightning is dancing,” commented a fourth. “Not what you want to see from the cockpit, glad everyone is safe,” wrote a fifth.