Sprites, Upper Atmospheric Lightning | Weather

Ok, everyone know about regular lightning, but have you heard of the upper atmospheric kind called sprites?? You can see by looking at that picture above that is is very wild looking with orange and red tentacle looking things hanging down. These are all electrical discharges that affect the upper levels that is caused by what is happening with regular lightning down at the surface. It isn't exactly known why sprites occur, but here is what we do know: 

• They occur in clusters, and are very large
• They are triggered by the discharges of positive lightning between the thunderstorm and the ground
• Sometimes they are preceeded by a giant red halo
• They occur about 90km above the surface
• Was caught for the first time accidentally in 1989 by a photographer waiting for a rocket to launch

​Sprites are definately a strange occurance that is rare to see. As a matter of fact you would need to travel west of the Rockies at a very high elevation to see them.

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