SAINT-SAVIN (33) 04.05.2020

During a thunderstorm on 4 May 2020 at 22:15 in Saint-Savin (33), a witness saw a bright red rounded shape to the northwest. It gradually dimmed and disappeared over 30 seconds. A few minutes later, the same shape reappeared at the same location, followed by 2 other identical points of light spaced apart. The source describes 4 appearances in all and gives a total duration of 20–30 seconds before a slow fade, although it separately assigns 30 seconds to the first appearance. There was no movement; the objects were stationary. Observations ended when a spell of rain arrived. Only 1 account was collected. The witness's description was submitted to the Lightning Research Laboratory, which unambiguously identified ball lightning of the globular category. GEIPAN notes that a strong thunderstorm affected Saint-Savin at the time, with many lightning strikes and intense activity within and between clouds. The attached document contains strike maps within 10 and 50 km of the commune. GEIPAN considers the visual appearance, lifespan and movement characteristics strongly compatible with globular ball lightning. The colors in the witness's photograph are also compatible. It concludes that there is a very high probability that these were globular lightning spheres produced by the widespread thunderstorm activity, particularly activity within and between clouds. The source describes such observations as not rare under similar storm conditions. GEIPAN classifies the case as A: observation of ball lightning, globular category.