Ball lightning is usually associated with thunderstorms.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by multiple independent, high-quality sources including National Geographic, Britannica, BBC Science Focus, Eos, and a physics paper on arXiv, all agreeing ball lightning is usually linked to thunderstorms, with noted exceptions. [cascade flags: aggregator_dropped_primary_exists | tier=unverified indep_score=0.328 clusters=5 claim_tier=notable] [rescored 2026-09-15: curated origin-host map (PR #65); unclassified hosts no longer scored as aggregators]
Sources
- Ball lightning (wikipedia)
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/ball-lightning (corroboration)
- https://theconversation.com/ball-lightning-exists-but-what-on-earth-is-it-10419 (corroboration)
- https://www.sciencefocus.com/planet-earth/what-is-ball-lightning (corroboration)
- https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0312122 (corroboration)
- https://eos.org/articles/have-you-seen-ball-lightning-scientists-want-to-know-about-it (corroboration)