Nearly 50 lightning strikes happened during a record setting heat-wave in the Arctic in July. This was in addition to over 1000 of them hitting over a wider area during a massive storm. This was one of the furthest examples of lightning strikes anywhere in the world in weather forecasters memories, with the closest being in Fairbanks, Alaska. While lightning strikes do occur in the Arctic, they are much rarer in such frequency, because the air is usually to cold and dry for such a major storm to be able to form.
lightning
Via Mashable
Sparky doesn't give a f*ck about you and your lightning bolts Zeus.
Everything about this is epic. This outrageously lucky bison from Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Iowa survived being struck by lightning in 2013.
At this point we're unclear whether or not Sparky's spar with the afterlife bestowed him any supernatural gifts, but seriously, stay tuned.
Via powpowtarkari
We can never get enough of the truly awesome spectacle of nature's destruction.
That's where this new video showing some lightning rattling the sky in one of Patagonia's beautiful volcanoes.
Early this year we were treated to a another dramatic showing when the Calbuco volcano spewed an ocean of ash and smoke into the atmosphere.
Nature is so cool.
Via Greg McCown
Zeus celebrates Pride.
Photographer Greg McCown captured this incredible picture of a bolt of lighting streaking through a clear arcing rainbow.
As McCown says on his Facebook page:
Finally! After years of trying I finally got my lightning and rainbow picture. What an awesome evening. I headed out late afternoon, shot a little on the SE side, then drove across town catching up with Bryan Snider and Chris Frailey, two awesome photographers/stormchasers. We shot for a little while, then got dumped on by a microburst while driving up the freeway. I-10 slowed to a near crawl, with half the traffic pulling over and stopping completely. Can't blame them as visibility dropped to 20 feet. At the next stop Bryan and Chris headed NW back towards home and I headed SE towards this rainbow. I was just trying to find a foreground without telephone poles or other junk in the way. Found it just in time as this was the last bolt to strike before the storm dissipated into nothing.
It's certainly not the only pretty picture McCown has taken. You can see a whole lot of beautiful shots on his website.
Via Carl Bouley
God paid a visit to Maine this week, and it was scary as Hell.
A high school student in Grand Isle recently captured the insane moment that lightning struck the steeple of a church.
Carl Bouley was filming the rain over St. Gerard Catholic Church from his porch across the street when it happened, and his volunteer firefighter father went over afterwards to check on the damages.
The church has has actually been struck before in August of 2007, according to the Maine Sun Journal.
“It kind of scared me a bit,” he told the Journal. “It felt like a small shockwave hit.”
A second camera was able to capture what happened on the ground below at the exact same moment.
Great Scott!
By Unknown
Huey Griffiths captured this video of a giant electrical fireball that was caused by a lightning storm in Montreal. 350,000 citizens of Quebec were left without power due to the storm that included winds of up to 100 kilometers per hour.
WARNING:: Some profanity is included in this video.
By Unknown
Watch this footage of a Tokyo commuter train taking a direct hit of lightning while crossing a railway bridge. According to the Telegraph, the carriages briefly lost power as a result of the strike, but no one was injured and the service resumed within 10 minutes.
Via Reddit
Redditor AJ192 took this spectacular photograph of a lightning in the middle of a fireworks show at Balloon Fiesta Park in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.
By Unknown
This Happy Hour brought to you by Destination Win.
Know This:
- Obama and Romney are selling some weird sh*t in their campaign stores.
- Comedian Josh Sankey will travel the U.S. with only bacon as currency.
- Red Robin will serve beer milkshakes in honor of Oktoberfest.
- Kate Middleton has been toasting with water lately...
- The body of King Richard III may have been found -- under a parking lot.
Read This:
- From Salon: Science proves Dan Savage right -- when it comes to sex, we should all aim to be GGG ("good, giving, and game").
- From The Daily Dot: One man's brave foray into My Little Pony fandom.
- From NBC: Are the 100 most endangered species even worth saving?
Watch This:
- The man who overcame crippling polio to build a helicopter out of trash.
- Meanwhile, in an Australian snowstorm...
- The Epic Rap Battle Of Manliness.
- Ah, memories: Steve Jobs announces the original iPhone.
Look At This:
- The ultimate kitchen cheat sheet -- print this out!
- Cave homes we'd like to live in.
- At long last, a way to turn iPhone pics into real-life photos.
- Banksy gets animated.
Happy Hour Tumblr: Rich Cats Of Instagram
Happy Hour List: The Funniest Internet Reactions To Apple's iPhone 5 Release
