Dazzling Red Lightning Sprites Spotted Over Hurricane Matthew (Video)

A mysterious yet flamboyant red lightning sprites were seen over hurricane Matthew. It was captured by Frankie Lucena, a photographer, in Puerto Rico while the storm was heading toward Aruba and Colombia.

Sprites are colored reddish-orange or greenish-blue. They are electrical charges that could appear over a thunderstorm cloud or cumulonimbus. They are caused by the discharges of positive lightning between the thundercloud and the ground. They take place in clusters lazing for about 50 miles (80 km) to 90 miles (145 km) over the Earth's surface.

#HURRICANEMATTHEW: As the giant storm was approaching Frankie Lucena of Puerto Rico shot these #electric #earth https://t.co/cM6qcQYtiQ #rad pic.twitter.com/XaT8JQ8tyO

— Christina Consolo (@RadChick4Cast) October 3, 2016

Rare, lightning sprites dance over Hurricane Matthew. Fotos tomadas en Cabo Rojo por Frankie Lucena. https://t.co/GViouo2mJa (via @NatGeo) — Robby Cortés (@RobbyCortes) October 4, 2016

Smithsonian reports that sprites are not lightning at all and they are like aurorae. They will happen when the charged particles interact with gasses in the atmosphere. Tan electrical charge creates when the ice particles in the thunderclouds hit one another then an opposite charge generates on the ground that makes them connect and causing a spark of light known as lightning. So, when the lightning strike has a positive charge, it can then produce a sprite.

Mr. Lucena mentioned the location of the red sprites as about 400 miles southwest of his location in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. He further said that they were from a storm cell near Aruba and some were from a storm cell near the northern tip of Colombia. He took the images in the late hours of September 30 and early morning of October 1. Then, he posted them on Twitter, according to Miami Herald.