what is this mysterious phenomenon captured by a storm chaser?

On the night of Friday November 1 to Saturday November 2, strange red lights appeared in the sky over Saint-Laurent-du-Var (Alpes-Maritimes). Called “leprechaun”, this phenomenon was immortalized by a storm chasing photographer.

Red flames in the sky? As surprising as it may seem, this spectacle did indeed appear above Saint-Laurent-du-Var (Alpes-Maritimes), on the night of Friday November 1 to Saturday November 2. These bright lights, called leprechauns, were observed following major storms in the nearby Balearic Islands.

Particular weather conditions

Laurent Richard, a storm chaser for two years, witnessed this ballet of colors while he was trying to photograph a storm located between 450 and 550 km away, in the Balearic Islands. The sky suddenly lit up red before his eyes. “It’s the first time I’ve seen it with the naked eye!” he told France 3.

The icing on the cake was that he managed to capture two “jellyfish”, a nickname given to the most imposing leprechauns. “I love the deep sky and when a leprechaun appears on the device’s screen, it’s like an adrenaline rush!”, he exclaimed.

But what is this strange phenomenon? Leprechauns sometimes occur in the mesosphere (located between 50km and 90km altitude) during stormy nights. These are intense electrical discharges, with a length estimated between 30 and 40 km. They last less than a second and are therefore very difficult to capture. As for their red color, it is due to the presence of nitrogen in the air.

These stealthy and spectacular phenomena are very difficult to analyze, so much so that scientists are still unable to explain the exact conditions of their formation very well.