Spooky storm caught on video by Pleasley woman
A Pleasley woman – who believes she may have seen rare ‘ball lightning’ – has shared a video of the early morning storm from her living room window.
Sara-Lee Burton runs The White Swan in Pleasley, alongside partner Paul Steven.
She said she was woken up in the early hours of the morning to the most intense storm she had ever heard.
Sara-Lee said: “With running a pub, it can be quite exhausting and we have been quite shattered this week.
“I actually woke up about 1.30am and realised it was the thunder which had caused me to wake up.
“I have spent years wanting to capture lightning and every time I have woken up to a storm it has always been sheet lightning, so, there is usually nothing to photograph.
“And when it was fork lightning, I would typically sleep through it.
“Anyway, I went into the living room to have a closer look and it was so intense.
“My camera was in my bedroom at the time and I did not want to disturb my partner, so I was sitting videoing the storm out of the window on my phone.
“It was one of the most intense storms I have ever seen.”
“I have never seen flashes coming that fast.
“When the flashes increased, I woke my partner, Paul, and told him he needed to come and see it.
“So, we were both watching the storm.
“I actually thought we had caught a meteoroid on camera at first but then we started to think it might be ball lightning which is quite rare.
“Apparently only five percent of the population have seen it.
“All I know is that I have never seen anything like this and I have watched many storms in the past.
“But the storms are never usually this intense.
“It was just a small glowing orb in the sky, and definitely not from a lens mark or light reflections.
“It was just very intense but extremely interesting to witness.”
Ball lighting is a phenomenon, sometimes referred to as globe lightning.
It can appear in storms as a floating sphere, ranging in size and colour.
Ball lightning usually disappears within a few seconds.