Posted on 02/12/2013 5:22:27 PM PST by PJ-Comix
News hit the Net yesterday afternoon that lightning had struck The Vatican twice, just hours after Pope after Pope Benedict XVI's sudden resignation. As a lightning photographer and weather photo hoax buster, I investigated to see if the photo was real.
#PHOTO: Lightning strikes St Peter's dome at #Vatican on day the #Pope announced resignation, by Filippo Monteforte twitter.com/AFP/status/301...— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) February 11, 2013
When the picture first started circulating on Facebook, Meteonetwork Puglia e Basilicata ONLUS (a division of Associazione MeteoNetwork Onlus) and commenting members of the Facebook page thought that the photo might be faked (loose internet translation here), because the strike didn't seem to reflect on the dome, because it didn't seem to make close contact with it, and because there was no reflection on the wet street below (see annotated image). Since many photos you see on Social Media are faked, or at least re-purposed, I was immediately suspicious as well.
However, when it was announced later in the day that the photographer was an Italian professional photographer Filippo Monteforte, the photo was transmitted by AFP, and BBC ran a video of the lightning strike, this quelled most of the controversy. If you look closely in the video (embedded above), you can see something I've noticed dozens of times when filming lightning -- the initial stroke of lightning is often too bright and overexposes the photo. But lightning strikes through its channel rapidly, dozens of times, and the last few strokes (what we see as "fading") provide the opportunity to get a clear shot of the bolt, with minimal reflection on nearby surfaces. For this reason, I believe the photo is plausible, and since it was taken by a professional, with potential video to back it up, I'd say that the photo is legitimate.
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Archived lightning strike data is not easy to come by in foreign countries, but certainly multiple Facebook users viewing the photo confirmed that a thunderstorm was present in Rome Monday afternoon, on the edge of a powerful storm system that brought snow to much of the country. A request to the Worldwide Lightning Network didn't turn up any lightning data, but they don't measure 100% of lightning. CORRECTION 5 PM: An amended request did confirm lightning in the area. Most importantly, official weather observations from CIAMPINO Ciampino, Rome, do indicate that there was a thunderstorm for approximately 3 hours in Rome yesterday:
It also may just be coincidence that lightning struck. The Empire State Building in New York City is hit by lightning 100 times per year. If the Basilica is properly grounded and an attractive source for lightning strikes, it's possible that it gets hit every time a thunderstorm moves through Rome. The only thing working against that is that it doesn't appear from a Google Image Search that a similar image has ever been captured before.
I agree. It’s a stunning photo. On the other hand, I doubt God would need the accompanying thunder storm to launch it.
Yes, although I’m not saying the photographer sat on the photo.
However, if he had, the photo would have gone from an interesting photo, worth a few bucks, to a very interesting photo worth a lot of bucks.
It’s all about timing.
I'm so relieved.
Lightning is actually pretty easy to capture. I’ve got a couple on my profile page that I took once I learned the ancient chinese secret.
And everything known to mankind since the beginning of history is already catalogued on Google? Besides, not even Google can prove a negative.
There has been a fair amount of wind and rain in Rome in the last few days (I happen to have been checking the weather there because I was planning a trip to Rome, by coincidence, in the next few weeks).
So I’d say it’s probably real.
When I was at World Youth Day in Madrid two years ago, a horrible wind and rain storm broke out and lightning was slamming down all around us. The Pope sat there, eyes closed, praying, and this was the only thing that calmed down the nearly 1 million people who were there and let us last out the storm.
At the time, it seemed to me that the Devil was striking at the Pope and this is how it seems to me in this photo, too.
So to me, that means that the Pope is doing the right thing by resigning, and something really bad must be brewing - but he has averted it for now and Satan is angry.
I saw it on the internets - so yeah - it happened.
I don’t for a moment doubt it happened. My sister was over there and saw it (or at least what we’re now seeing) on RAI, but I had to wait for the photo to see it. I just don’t get the overawe and concern.
I’d say it’s a photoshop job...
Some signs are too ambivalent to have meaning. I have more faith in the Pope’s infallibility ex cathedra than I have in any signs.
Some lightning bolts do not come from the clouds down, they jump from the ground up.
Second-worst troll of the week.
I read, somewhere, that is is not uncommon for lightening to strike the dome of St Peters. There is a lightening rod up there, as you would expect.
Love taking pics of lightning, and yeap it’s pretty easy once you get it down. There’s a program called Imagestacker that’s great for repetative frames with same background. Can stack lots of bolts for a major cool pic!!!
Love taking pics of lightning, and yeap it’s pretty easy once you get it down. There’s a program called Imagestacker that’s great for repetative frames with same background. Can stack lots of bolts for a major cool pic!!!
Wow, you guys never quit. Ever. If anyone disagrees with what you perceive to be the truth, they are "trolls", "anti-catholic basher" or worse. It never ends.
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