Once-In-A-Lifetime Footage Captures Lightning Striking Upward From Volcano

There’s something magical about capturing lightning on camera. While not always the easiest to film, it’s possible to find pretty amazing videos online. What’s much more rare, however, is the type of lightning that has been seen near the city of Antigua in Guatemala. A clip from a recent storm on August 17 is especially magical. Why? Because the lightning shown in the video strikes up instead of down!

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While this may sound impossible, it’s actually the product of volcanic lightning. Yes, volcanos are capable of producing lightning. A popular term for this occurrence is spider lightning. How cool is that!? In the video below, these lightning strikes originate from the Agua Volcano. Whatever you’re picturing right now, I promise, it’s even more breathtaking!

“These extensive lightning flashes often simultaneously strike the ground in multiple places miles apart,” The National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS) once explained. “They also are known to trigger upward lightning from tall objects.”

This isn’t the first time a storm like this has taken place in this area. In July, a nearby volcano called Acatenango also produced spider lightning, as seen in the popular video below.

“These flashes are called spider lightning due to the pattern they create when they quickly creep and crawl from one cloud to another,” NESDIS continued. “These long, horizontally traveling flashes can be seen from Earth below the clouds when they are especially strong and bright.”

Spider lightning isn’t the only type of rare lightning — there’s one that involves rainbows! Both are amazing in their own way, of course. Plus, they serve as beautiful reminders that the world we live in is oh-so magical.

You can find the source of this story’s featured image here!