Arc flash in Ohio
© Via YouTube/Scott Beale
It looks unreal. A video posted on Tuesday shows a crackling fireball traveling along a utility line in Dayton, Ohio. The footage comes from Laughing Squid founder Scott Beale's brother Chip Beale. The scene was "a recent hailstorm with insane winds." We can forgive the vertical video because the action is so frightening and fascinating.

There's the sound of lightning cracking, followed by a blue fireball traveling behind some trees.

The video may depict an electrical event known as an "arc flash." GE Industrial Solutions describes this:
An arc flash event can expel large amounts of deadly energy. The arc causes an ionization of the air, and arc flash temperatures can reach as high as 35,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This is hotter than the surface of the sun.
This sort of traveling fireball is rarely caught on camera, but a similar incident happened in Montreal during a 2013 windstorm. LiveScience traced the cause of the dramatic Montreal event to an arc flash.