Some of you may recall my recent post about having erected a 99 foot tower to hold a wind measuring and weather station aloft at my place. The very tip of the tower is a needle point sharpened 1/2" diameter brass rod that is well grounded through a long #3 AWG copper cable to the earth below. I was awoken to the sound of thunder in the wee hours this morning and since this was the first lightning storm in the area since putting up my new tower I was eager to see if there would be any corona discharge off the lightning rod tip. It was very dim but clearly visible through binoculars. I guestimate the discharge to have been about a foot and a half in length and it looked EXACTLY like this discharge off a vacuum tube Tesla coil I show here operating in my lab a few years ago. Way cool! I did not witness a strike this time.