Green lightning?

Question

A family member of mine said that she saw lightning the other night during a storm that was green. I told her I thought it was probably from hail. What can cause lightning to be green? Is it hail like I think it is?

Answer 1

That's a great question!

Actually, lightning would never change color when it hits a power line or transformer or anything else for that matter.  Lightning is the color it is upon discharge, and can appear blue or white, etc.  The resulting flash from the tripped man-made power object can appear green, but your family member said it was lightning.

If there is a ton of dust between the lightning and the observer, or other airborne particles -could be water vapor, rain (which usually has dust and pollen in it), even hail like you suggested, then the lightning can appear to change color.  Think of it as you do the different colors in a sunset- some dusks it can be bright red, or purple, or just yellow, and so on.  The more atmosphere and atmospheric particles between the source of the light and the observer, the more distortion can occur.

There are things called "Green Rays", however, which can be seen during storms and even absent storms.  You can read more about Green Rays at http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/observing/gre...

Another excellent question.

Answer 2

Usually lightning turns green when it hits power line.. Probably what your family seen was lightning hitting a power line far in the distant that made it turn green.