11. Blue St. Elmo’s Fire: Nature’s Electric Blue Glow
Though not strictly speaking lightning, Blue St. Elmo’s Fire is an amazing meteorological occurrence closely related to atmospheric electrical discharges. During thunderstorms or in strong electric fields, an eerie blue glow can occasionally be seen on pointed objects including ship masts, aircraft wings, or mountaintop buildings.
St. Elmo’s Fire gets its blue hue from the ionisation of air molecules—mostly nitrogen—in the presence of a high electric field. Eleons removed off these molecules then recombine generate a distinctive blue glow. This generates around the impacted objects a continuous, brilliant plasma.
Under the correct circumstances, St. Elmo’s Fire is rather long-lasting and observable for several minutes or even hours unlike other blue lightning events. Although this phenomena seems concerning, sailors and aviators have recorded it for millennia; often seen as a favourable omen in marine folklore, this phenomena is usually benign.