Hurricane Idalia: Rare upside down lightning recorded by US Air Force

Watch St Elmo's fire recorded as US Air Force evacuates ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Idalia

Footage of a rare weather phenomenon appearing to show lightning shooting off the surface of a plane has been captured by the US Air Force.

The clip was captured on Monday night near Tampa, Florida by the MacDill Airforce Base.

The base was evacuated as Hurricane Idalia headed in their direction.

The hurricane was a Category 2 storm when the footage was captured and made landfall as a Category 3.

Satellite image of Hurricane Idalia approaching Florida's Gulf Coast taken on Tuesday. Credit: AP

Winds of around 120mph have been recorded and there have been warnings the damage could be catastrophic.

On X the airbase said: "All aircraft on the installation have been evacuated/secured in preparation for Hurricane Idalia.

"During the evacuation, the 50th ARS recorded St. Elmo’s fire, a weather phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created in an atmospheric electric field."

As the hurricane approached the turbulent weather created an ideal situation for rare weather phenomena.

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A St. Elmo's fire appears during thunderstorms, when a sharp object like a ship's mast or in this case an aircraft's wing encounters an electrical field charged with a large number of electrons.

Those electrons glow giving the appearance of lightning bursting from the object rather than the sky.

St. Elmo's fire, also known as Witchfire, is extremely rare to see out in nature and is something more usually displayed in science museums.

Lightning ball's create a similar effect to St Elmo's fire. Credit: AP

It does not pose a threat to the object producing it, but the risk of being damaged by the intense weather or being struck by actual lightning is still high.

The risk of lightning strike is where it gets its name, St Elmo's fire is named after St Erasmus of Formia, the patron saint of sailors.

Seeing the phenomenon on a ship was often viewed as a warning of an imminent lightning strike.

Sailors often viewed it with awe and occasionally as a good omen.

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