Red sprites on April 12, 2020 @ Edmond, Oklahoma
© Paul SmithRed sprites on April 12, 2020 @ Edmond, Oklahoma
On Easter weekend, a series of severe storms swept across the Southeastern USA, battering the region with powerful thunderstorms and deadly tornadoes. In Edmond, Oklahoma, Paul M. Smith went outside on Easter morning to photograph the distant lightning. He caught these sprites leaping up from a thunderhead in Arkansas.

"The electrical storm had already passed through our area. These sprites were about 200 miles away, across the state line," he says. "After being stuck in the house for weeks, it was nice to be out and smelling the canola blooms."

Sprites are an exotic form of upward directed lightning. They often appear above the strongest thunderstorms, reaching their red tendrils up toward the edge of space. Last weekend's Easter storms likely produced a great number of sprites. Smith was perfectly positioned to photograph them--"I was just far enough away to see over the cloudtops," he explains.

Viewing sprites
More sprites may be in the offing this weekend. Severe thunderstorms and heavy rain are expected to roll across the South on Sunday, battering areas still reeling from the Easter Storms. This could activate a new display of upward directed lightning--best seen from far away.

More images of the Easter Sprites may be found on Paul Smith's Facebook page.