Ball lightning is distinct from St. Elmo's fire.
Notes on verification
Multiple independent, credible sources (Scientific American, HowStuffWorks, arXiv physics paper, Science Notes) consistently confirm these are distinct phenomena with different mechanisms, appearances, and behaviors. [cascade flags: aggregator_dropped_primary_exists | tier=silver indep_score=0.838 clusters=4 claim_tier=notable]
Sources
- Ball lightning (wikipedia)
- https://arxiv.org/pdf/2411.00240 (corroboration)
- https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/quotwhat-causes-the-stran/ (corroboration)
- https://sciencenotes.org/st-elmos-fire-weather-phenomenon/ (corroboration)
- https://greencomet.org/2014/01/26/saint-elmos-fire/ (corroboration)