Ever seen a storm with red lightning and 100+ MPH straight-line winds?

Tulsa, OK, 6/18/23

Red lightning, or sprites, are a less common form of lightning associated with high-altitude discharges in very powerful storms. Listen close for the buzzes and pops of blowing transformers, and stay tuned to the end for some photos of the aftermath.

[jac]

20 years ago, my lovely wife, my two children, and I were checking out of a hotel in Bismarck, North Dakota at 2am heading back home in northern Illinois. The desk clerk asked me which way we were going. I told her east. She pointed to the TV behind me that had the Weather Channel on indicating severe storms along our intended route and recommended we delay our departure to let the storms pass. In my cocky, overconfident ignorance... I said I am not afraid of a thunderstorm. Well buddy... two hours later we were smack dab in the middle of one of the worst, most hellish storms I've ever encountered. Straight line winds, raindrops as big as dinner plates, and golfball sized hail. I managed to stop under an overpass that acted like a venturi. The winds lifted the back of my 96 Suburban off the ground twice. The lightning was blinding and seemed to be striking everything in sight. The storm lasted for about 20 minutes... but the memories of the fear and danger I put my family through will last me a lifetime. Mother Nature will not be trifled with.

[nickbloom]

The silence, followed by the sirens, then the wind came. Amazing build up. This would be both incredible and terrfying to witness.

[chandarussell]

I’ve seen bright green and bright blue lightning. It was quite spectacular. Unfortunately it was followed by an F4 tornado which wasn’t so great.

[ho_funkie]

There's something so beautifully and distinctly American about just casually filming a storm on your front porch that is literally destroying transformers and trees. 10/10

[sakarim]

Thank you for not screaming and repeating, "Oh my God" over and over again. Appreciate you allowing us to hear the storm.

[lesliebrennan]

My mom use to wake us kids up in the middle of the night while dad was working midnights back in Midwest Illinois. She would turn the couch over and make a bed for us kids and we would have fun unawareof the danger. But once I looked at my mom and she was peering out through the curtains and the lightning flash on her face revealed real terror. She was protecting us.

[Sandman]

There’s nothing more terrifying than a tornado at night

[nelsonporter]

I was playing at an outdoor festival when off in the distance during our 1st set, I saw GREEN lightning. I told my son, ” We better get ready to run!” 5 minutes later we were in a monsoon!!

[kagato]

Those stright line winds can be terrifying. My son, 14, is deathly afraid sever thunderstorms because one time we had an extremely severe storm roll through with hail, lightning, but almost no rain. The winds were insane. They kept building and I could hear the tornado sirens in the distance. The winds kept intensifying until it sounded like a jet engine and a freight train next to our house. I yelled at him and my wife to get in the basement. He was almost hyperventilating. After the winds subsided, we learned it was just straight line winds at almost 100 mph.

[pg]

I have seen pink and green lightning before. Back in the late 1970's, we were under a Tornado Warning in central Alabama. As a weather nut, I was standing outside of the storm shelter, watching the storm go over. And I am NOT color blind. Other people saw the same thing that I did! Mother Nature can throw in some surprises sometimes!

[asilsLisa]

Yes. I’ve also had lightening strike within ten feet of me. Thank god my kids and I were in my vehicle at the time. Everything went white when it happened. I hope everyone in this person’s community was safe.

[I_EpicsStudios]

While at work, a massive storm came through my city. My coworker and I were closing, it was pitch black outside and out of quite literally nowhere, the wind picked up to probably 50 mph constant. There was massive thunder directly above us, it was so close and powerful that the building was violently shaking from the sound alone. We went into the basement and the power cut out leaving us in pitch black. The thunder was still so powerful that we could feel the ground shaking underneath us. There were two tornadoes that touched down about a mile away from us.

[jacktough]

Assuming everyone was okay, I gotta say I love storms like this. The awesome power of nature gets my blood pumping! ⛈️⛈️

[AtarahDerek]

You know a sprite is extremely powerful when you can see it from beneath the cloud. Sprites only come off of positive CGs, so the corresponding bolt was also extremely potent.

[uhhhhmaddi]

It's crazy to see it from this perspective. This storm completely uprooted and changed my life. I was in my home when our massive tree fell on the house. I thought a tornado was ripping up the house behind me, looking back that doesn't make much sense of course. Definitely the scariest moment of my life. I'll never forget the aftermath of water pouring into the house, the gas leak, and watching the storm get worse out the window all while scrambling to save what we can. Then to not have power for weeks, absolutely devastating. They're still doing construction as well. And many people dealt with much worse. I'll also never forget my dad and I driving around Tulsa at 4 a.m. that night and seeing the total destruction and darkness it left behind. I saw a tree completely cover a six-lane road. Aside from tornadoes, it was by far the worst storm devastation I've seen.

[liquidgordon]

I was here for this storm. It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever experienced. My wife and I were huddled in our hall closet because we don’t have a storm cellar. We moved to Tulsa from Oregon ~2 years ago and this was our first major storm experience in Oklahoma. Back on Oregon, we have wildfires. It’s scary, but not in the same way as this. Miraculously, our house was not damaged (we were one of the lucky ones!). We drove around the next morning and I couldn’t believe how many massive trees were just completely ripped up out of the ground (like in the photos) and how many power poles were just snapped in half. Much of Tulsa was out of power for a week or more.

[CreeSweetSage]

this reminds me of 2 years ago, we had a really bad storm. the lightning was pink and constant(strobe effect). They smell in the air smelled like rotten eggs. We also could hear this odd noises, almost like an animal squealing. We later found out that a tornado had crossed over our apartment building and hit a housing development 1/2 mile away from our home. I'm not sure what was the freakiest, the smell, the sound or the strobe pink lightning.

[dennissvitak]

Here in Missouri, on the first of August, we had a derecho storm blast through at a measured 95 mph. It hit my garage door straight on, and BUCKLED the heavy steel door. I was a weather forecaster (and taught severe weather and analysis) for 30+ years. Strongest thunderstorm I have ever seen, as far as straightline winds.

[readdeeply]

I've seen strange things. I live in Ohio. One night during a storm the entire sky started changing color - uniformly, stretched from start to end, no lightening strikes and without a primary source, no blown transformers, it went from yellow to blue to green to red, just as if a veil were being switched back and forth. The single oddest thing I've ever witnessed. Not one word was said it about the next day, not from the weather stations, not from people, not in the news or social media. It was very strange. I don't do drugs and I'm mentally stable - I know what I saw.

[sabrecatsmiladon]

Went through one of these in a deep ditch as a kid, the funnel cloud was huge but didnt touch down. Scared us but even as an 8 year old, we KNEW what to do. We were out playing at our lake cabin in Texas and we watched it coming and found a good ditch.
My MOM and sisters were screaming at us, out of Fear because they didnt know where we were.
ALL children should be taught what to do in dangerous weather events. Saved our lives because we didnt run 300 yards back to the cabin. We got safe and rode it out