This explanation is posted whenever earthquake lights are reported, but it's wrong. I have a few reasons:
First. So the explanation goes, during the earthquake power substation transformers and fuses blow, causing these lights. Problem is, the grid doesn't sustain that level of damage during these earthquakes. Yes, the power usually goes out and there is grid damage, but the amount of damage is nowhere near 'every substation blowing', even in the most severe quakes. So the number of lights and number of grid faults do not equal.
Second. Earthquake lights present in the sky, not on the ground beneath them. If substations were blowing and creating light, they would light objects in their immediate vicinity (e.g. buildings) more than they would illuminate clouds. But that doesn't happen, and in fact the lights appear within the cloud layers themselves rather than appearing as a projection onto them, as they would if the light source was at ground level.
Third. These lights have been witnessed out to sea and over offshore islands, where there is no power grid.
That last point is the most compelling for me, because I personally witnessed earthquake lights, less than a year ago, offshore, during the November 2016 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake. During that earthquake, I had this (night time) view: https://imgur.com/a/Nt2wD
The look is very similar to the videos of the ones in Mexico, and very different to the long-lasting beam of light from the ground that seems to come from generator explosions.
During the same earthquake, my curtain fell down, and I saw lights across Wellington harbour that I'm fairly sure were high voltage lines clashing. from my elevated point of view, the source was below the horizon.
I've seen the same green flashes of transformers blowing during serious hurricanes. Hello Florida, 2004, where I had the pleasure of seeing this during 3 different hurricanes. There were no tectonic plates shifting. The clouds were illuminated; it looked like flashes of green lightning from my front row seats. Though it's not as though I saw a green lightning arc.
Where I was, power was generally restored within 24 hours. I don't believe this would be possible if every substation were blowing. I believe people refer to the transformers on the telephone poles failing.
While this is very plausible, it wouldn't explain the historical accounts of "earthquake lights" that have been reported as far back as the 1600's (http://srl.geoscienceworld.org/content/85/1/159)
Edit: It's also been reported around the world that these lights can occur days, even weeks before an earthquake happens.
There's a lot of different explanations for it, but I understand that it's never been definitively explained.
How much do those things cost? I'd love to see every fireworks show end with blowing one up, watching the world change color for a few seconds is very surreal.
This is what you call "a theory", but it's one with no evidence to back it up. Can you point to other videos of electric grid damage that look similar?
The idea of "Earthquake lights" is also a theory, but it's becoming increasingly more likely these days as evidence piles up.
> This is what you call "a theory", but it's one with no evidence to back it up. Can you point to other videos of electric grid damage that look similar?
I'm not sure what you're getting at here, have you not seen high voltage lines blow up before personally? Or are you just making a point in this regard? Because the flashes of lights you see on the horizon etc during a heavy storm knocking over transformers and main lines is a pretty widely known thing.
I don't understand why you're demanding evidence of it, but:
I saw a transmission line arcing while driving the other night, just over the crest of a hill. It looked like an alien abduction was in progress. I only know it came from a downed line because a minute later I arrived at the scene and was just able to stop before running over the still live wires lying on the freeway.
First. So the explanation goes, during the earthquake power substation transformers and fuses blow, causing these lights. Problem is, the grid doesn't sustain that level of damage during these earthquakes. Yes, the power usually goes out and there is grid damage, but the amount of damage is nowhere near 'every substation blowing', even in the most severe quakes. So the number of lights and number of grid faults do not equal.
Second. Earthquake lights present in the sky, not on the ground beneath them. If substations were blowing and creating light, they would light objects in their immediate vicinity (e.g. buildings) more than they would illuminate clouds. But that doesn't happen, and in fact the lights appear within the cloud layers themselves rather than appearing as a projection onto them, as they would if the light source was at ground level.
Third. These lights have been witnessed out to sea and over offshore islands, where there is no power grid.
That last point is the most compelling for me, because I personally witnessed earthquake lights, less than a year ago, offshore, during the November 2016 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake. During that earthquake, I had this (night time) view: https://imgur.com/a/Nt2wD