Gene, W4SZ wrote:
"Cecil claims that corona cannot exist in "fairweather" conditions,
although there is no reason given."

My broadcast station experience includes blue-skys in advance of
thunderstorms when guy-wire segements became so charged that the
compression insulators separating the guy segments would flashover with
loud bangs. These times would be windy. My conclusion is that charged
air particles (ions) strike the guy wires charging them to high but
varying potentials.

The arc or flashover between segments is a corona of short duration, not
St. Elmo`s fire. It sounds like a gun shot. These may become so numerous
that the sounds are as if a battle were occurring. The sounds are not
unlike shorting the leads of a highly-charged large capacitor.

If leakage across the insulators were fast enough, rhere would be no
bangs.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI