🚀 go-pugleaf

New Year's Eve brought the usual assortment of firecrackers, skyrockets,
M-80s (I guess - bright and LOUD), and so forth. As I was enjoying the show
(and giving thanks I live a good mile away from the jokers with the M-80s), 
I was startled by a green flash from a nearby substation. This thing was
BRIGHT - so bright it effectively washed out all other lights for dozens of
blocks on either side. The flash itself appeared to be about a half a city
block wide. There were two of them, about 10 seconds apart. And funny thing -
a lot of people's lights went out. :-)  Anyway, at the time I assumed some
fool had thrown a wire rope into the substation, or something like. But later
I wondered - with so much powdered metal in many pyro formulas, and 
particulate matter (conductive metal oxides?) left after their explosion,
is it possible that a skyrocket of some sort exploding among the wires would
alter the conductivity of air enough to let such an arc happen?

I still think the cable explanation, or something similar, is most likely.
It was quite a climax for the New Year's Eve "display"!

							Jeff Winslow