why is the sky just flashing blue at night?

sean corcoran

i didnt know where to post this so i figured the good aul boardsies in astronomy would know,

i have noticed over the last few days that the sky has just been flashing a blue kind of colour but i dont think its lightning because of the way its just a brief flash and there was no thunder, can anyone explain this to me?

rugbyman

another one for the sky people to answer.

for the last few years an i have often seen mgnificient cloud formations. I recall reading a book 45 years ago detailing clouds, the only one I remember is Nimbus.

Is there any reason that there might be new type clouds,


And to keep the ball rolling, I often work in Northern Europe, belgium,NL and Germany and often see magnificent sunsets with the sun being red and large. I have never seen such in ireland. i once recall reading an Irish Times piece by that brilliant writer Brendan ?, explaing this but have forgotten it.

Regards Rugbyman

sean corcoran

rugbyman wrote: »

another one for the sky people to answer.

for the last few years an i have often seen mgnificient cloud formations. I recall reading a book 45 years ago detailing clouds, the only one I remember is Nimbus.

Is there any reason that there might be new type clouds,


And to keep the ball rolling, I often work in Northern Europe, belgium,NL and Germany and often see magnificent sunsets with the sun being red and large. I have never seen such in ireland. i once recall reading an Irish Times piece by that brilliant writer Brendan ?, explaing this but have forgotten it.

Regards Rugbyman

really want mine answered first rugbyman, its really annoying me now :mad:

Mr Marri

sean corcoran wrote: »

i didnt know where to post this so i figured the good aul boardsies in astronomy would know,

i have noticed over the last few days that the sky has just been flashing a blue kind of colour but i dont think its lightning because of the way its just a brief flash and there was no thunder, can anyone explain this to me?

My best guess would be some sort of high level sheet lightening. That or maybe a brain tumour!

NinjaNikki

sean corcoran wrote: »

i didnt know where to post this so i figured the good aul boardsies in astronomy would know,

i have noticed over the last few days that the sky has just been flashing a blue kind of colour but i dont think its lightning because of the way its just a brief flash and there was no thunder, can anyone explain this to me?

Hey there it's what we call dry lighting it happens when the weather is cold and so on but where i live we had that all night then a brief second of hail then mad lighting and thunder then more hail then it was gone!

Bodhisopha

Chinese lanterns.

smellslikeshoes

Was lots of exceptionally bright lightening in the east last night, would guess that you were too far away from it to hear the thunder but it was bright enough to light up some clouds.

My name is URL

There's a thread about this in the Weather forum - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056102658

stevoslice

sean corcoran wrote: »

i didnt know where to post this so i figured the good aul boardsies in astronomy would know,

i have noticed over the last few days that the sky has just been flashing a blue kind of colour but i dont think its lightning because of the way its just a brief flash and there was no thunder, can anyone explain this to me?

could it be that your seeing the beam from a lighthouse?

sean corcoran

thebhoy wrote: »

could it be that your seeing the beam from a lighthouse?

no way, i live too far inland, plus its only been the last few days

Mr Marri wrote: »

My best guess would be some sort of high level sheet lightening. That or maybe a brain tumour!

well loads of us have been seeing it over the last few days so i guess that rules out brain tumors, but its the whole sky, everyway you look and as far as you can see its happening, but its been for weeks now that its been happening so thats why i thought it wasnt lightning

2 stroke

thebhoy wrote: »

could it be that your seeing the beam from a lighthouse?

sean corcoran wrote: »

no way, i live too far inland, plus its only been the last few days

How far inland are you? With clear skies in frosty weather lighthouses can be seen for quite a distance.
I remember a similar mystery, turned out to be tuskar rock lighthouse, 28 miles away.

Calibos

What direction from Blanch? Is it from the direction of the Wicklow/Dublin Mountains and is it really lighting up the whole sky or is that a bit of an exageration? I ask because on our observing sessions up near the sugarloaf we would often see the strobe light on the top of the mast on Kippure light up a portion of the sky in that direction when there was some mist/cloud in the air.

slade_x

Probably better suited to weather

Mothman

As mentioned earlier, sheet lightning which is usually blue in snowy conditions. The lightning can be seen from far away, too far for the thunder to be heard.

driveshaft

Yes, it's sheet lightning from the storms on the East Coast. I was lucky enough to be right under Friday night's storms in Dublin and from speaking to family over the weekend, it seems that this lightning was visible 100 miles away in Co. Leitrim. Saw some more in the East / South East earlier this evening while in Longford.

LookingFor

edit - oops, wrong thread!

dollydishmop

sean corcoran wrote: »

its only been the last few days

sean corcoran wrote: »

its been for weeks now that its been happening

Which is it

gazzer

Was driving on the M3 on Friday night around 11pm and the sky lit up in blue. At first I thought it was a traffic camera or something but after the 4th time to see it I started to think that it was the end of the world or something

sean corcoran

dollydishmop wrote: »

Which is it

been going for weeks but happening more often the last few days,

smart a**e :P

doleman2010

sean corcoran wrote: »

been going for weeks but happening more often the last few days,

smart a**e :P

Where abouts are you?

gurramok

I saw it when driving onto North Wall quay in Dublin at about 6:30pm tonight. Never saw that type of lightening before, guess with our winters changing it will become more frequent.

Overheal

Thundersnow perhaps?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeiOhIrOBV8

If Lightning is far enough away you aren't going to hear it. Every 3 seconds, sound travels 1.02 km (probably a little more in that cold weather) But you have to figure how far can you see a flash of light in the sky and how far away do you think you can hear from? It's common to see lightning and never hear the thunder if its several miles away.