Here, normal daily temperatures and precipitation are lower, and the chance of thunderstorms, reduced. Its is important to realize that the contours on the map are very general, and that much greater detail of strike density is available and would provide much more information for localized areas. Also, due to the use of very new technology, accurate, long term records of lightning strikes do not exist, so that the illustration below represents only those strikes which occurred during 1989, and therefore may not be representative of long-term patterns. There are other forms of lightning that are still not very well understood. One of these forms is ball lightning.
Ball lighting is a luminous globe ranging in size from a baseball to a basketball.
Sightings of ball lightning are difficult to verify scientifically, and as such carry with them an aura of mystery. Many descriptions are very strange indeed. It struck our house, cut the telephone wire, burnt the window frame, and then buried itself in a tub of water which was underneath. The water boiled for some minutes afterwards, but when it was cool enough for me to search I could find nothing in it. The whole family was sitting at the supper table when a ball about 4 inches in diameter came and hovered about the center of the table.