Glowing orbs? Hovering lights? It could be ball lightning.

Posted at 1:10 PM on August 29, 2007 by Sanden Totten

Did you hear Midmorning at the State Fair the other day? I did, and I can't stop thinking about something that came up early in the show:

BALL LIGHTNING.

It's a poorly understood weather phenomenon that any of us would be lucky if we saw even once in our lifetime. That is of course, unless you check YouTube. Scope this video captured by some folks partying in the mountains of Colorado.

Reports vary wildly about how ball lightning works. Some say it can be different colors. Some say it can travel through wood and glass.

Some even say that ball lightning may be the real explanation behind the mysterious "foo fighters". The term "foo fighters" (before it became a band name) refers to strange orbs of light that followed Allied aircrafts during some late night dog fights in World War II. Pilots at the time thought the orbs were some kind of enemy technology but they apparently never attacked a plane. After the war, neither side could explain what they were.

If only the WWII pilots had cell cameras . . . then we could compare YouTube clips and see if the visuals match up.

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