SAINT-ANDRE (66) 04.08.2013

On the very hot night of 4 August 2013, a witness at Saint-André (66) photographed distant thunderstorms before bed at an estimated 03:00 or 04:00; this was image DSCN5593. Later a powerful flash woke the witness and spouse, who both thought it was the storm. The witness went onto the balcony and took DSCN5594, then noticed a chain of white-yellow light streaks in it and was puzzled. The French narrative initially refers to the witness's husband, but a quoted questionnaire passage refers to the witness's wife; the spouse's description is inconsistent. That passage says they thought lightning was reaching their location and interpreted visible light streaks as lightning. GEIPAN found no particular strangeness in the direct observations. The reported anomaly concerned DSCN5594. Analysis indicated photographic artefacts probably caused by the 8-second exposure and camera movement across nearby lights, even moderately bright ones, before the exposure ended. GEIPAN classified the case A: photographic artefact.