500,000 Lightning Strikes Provide Awesome Photos

Nearly 75% of the nation is under the government (SPC) thunderstorm risk for the next two days (at least). Already this week, over half a million (>500,000) lightning strikes have hit the Earth over the United States.*

This has made, and will make, for incredible lightning photographs across the nation. (Disclaimer: lightning is dangerous; if your camera's outside the car, YOU need to stay inside. A hard-top car will protect you from lightning.)

Shane Rucker snapped this beautiful shot of lightning behind a paper mill in Wisconsin Tuesday night:

While the Associated Press got lucky Tuesday in Hamilton, Ohio (AP Photo Used With Permission; by Steve Vaughn):

Here in Pennsylvania, over 41,000 of those lightning strikes have hit the ground. Ron Shawley captured last night:

Look at that one up close. You can actually see the lightning lighting up the trees at and near the strike, and you can even see it going down the tree (the dot of light below the bottom of the strike)!

All in all, last night was a good night for the Pennsylvania Storm Chasers, with storms touching most of the state (and more are coming today and Friday). However, most of the action is after midnight, which is why you didn't see a lot of chasers out besides Ron.

*75% statistic determined by eyeballing SPC forecasts screen-captured below.

*Vaisala reported 556,3664 lighting strikes between midnight on May 1 and noon today. The map above shows a plot of each strike.

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