Another St. Elmo´s Fire on Mt. Hoher Sonnblick

For the third time, the meteorological observatory on Mt. Hoher Sonnblick (3106m) in the Hohe Tauern mountains registrated St.Elmo´s Fire on its webcams (2–3). But contrary to the two preceding cases (1–2), this time St. Elmo´s Fire occurred during a thunderstorm, the nearest lightnings of which were about 600 metres away. While St. Elmo´s Fire appeared, the intensity of the electric field increased from -3000 up to +8000 V/m (unfortunately no diagram available). At the same time, snowfall was recorded at temperatures of -2°C.

The webcam which recorded St. Elmo´s Fire is located on a ridge between Mt. Goldbergspitze and Mt. Roter Mann at about 2970 metres above sea level looking northeast. On the right Mt. Goldbergspitze can be seen, and in the centre of the picture there is the Kleinfleißkees wit Mt. Hoher Sonnblick. The highest mountain on the left is Mt. Hocharn (3254m). The camera is part of a glaciological research programme around the Sonnblick-observatory. Its purpose is to provide data about the snow cover of the Kleinfleißkees and is operated by the ZAMG (Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik – Central Institution for Meteorology and Geodynamics).

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