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Mysterious 'lightning' spotted as 'quake hit Louth
MYSTERIOUS types of lightning were seen by people in Louth during Wednesday's earthquake.
A woman in Westgate said she saw what she thought was ball lightning as the earthquake rumbled through Louth.
Elvira Witney said: "I experienced it at the exact time of the earthquake."
"This thing seemed to be coming across the room straight at me. I was very frightened."
Mrs Witney described it as a grapefruit-sized glowing sphere that went out like a light.
She saw it in her ground floor bedroom as she felt the earthquake but there was no damage to show where it had come from.
Ball lightning expert Dr Graham Hubler, of the United States Naval Research Laboratory, told us: "There have been reports of ball lightning associated with earth quakes. She probably saw ball lightning."
He said: "In some areas there are minerals in the earth that are piezoelectric. When the pressure is relieved the minerals can attain very high voltage that could act similar to lightning and create ball lightning."
He said there are not many reports of it passing through windows so he does not know how firm this observation is.
A second lightning sighting came from Jean Howard, of Tathwell, a curator at Louth Museum.
Mrs Howard said she saw a flash of lightning over the Wolds as the earthquake hit.
She said: "My initial thought as I'd just woken was that what I was hearing could be a thunder storm.
"As the rumbling and shaking continued I was quite aware it was an earthquake."
Mrs Howard could have seen a phenomenon known as Earthquake Light.
For centuries people have reported seeing flashes of light in the sky during earthquakes but these were not taken seriously until the 1960s when they were photographed in Japan.
The Lincolnshire earthquake happened just before 1am on Wednesday morning and measured 5.2 on the Richter Scale.
Scientists said its epicentre was near Market Rasen.
CLICK HERE and tell us if you saw ball lightning or Earthquake Light.
Click here to see a video of Earthquake Light in Peru in August 2007
Ball Lightning and Earthquake Light Fact File
* Scientists are still baffled by ball lightning and argue about what causes it
* Although there are many anecdotal reports of ball lightning, scientific data is scarce due to its unpredictability
* Sightings of ball lightning date back thousands of years and vary greatly in appearance.
* People have reported seeing it in their homes, in aircraft as well as in the sky.
* Reports of Earthquake Light liken it to the aurora borealis or Northern Lights.
* Eyewitness accounts of Earthquake Light were collected during the Kobe earthquake in Japan in 1995 and video footage of it was taken in Peru in August 2007.
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Weather for Louth
Thursday 17 May 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 8 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 9 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 29 mph
Wind direction: North east
