Slow-motion video of lightning striking a building

A high-speed camera captured lightning striking residential buildings in Brazil, revealing new details about such strikes. The spectacular slow-motion video shot at 40,000 frames per second shows the connection process between lightning and a building. The video also shows that a staggering 31 fingers of upwards reaching lightning, called positive leaders, launched upwards from other nearby buildings in an attempt to intercept the downward negative leaders. The strike severely damaged a chimney, throwing fragments in all directions, the researchers report. Paper: Close View of the Lightning Attachment Process Unveils the Streamer Zone Fine Structure, Marcelo M. F. Saba, Diego Rhamon R. da Silva, John G. Pantuso, Caitano L. da Silva, [2022] Geophysical Research Letters: Camera: Phantom V2012 running at 40,000 images per second - 1,280 × 448 pixels Date: 30 March 2021 Location: S. Paulo - Brazil Who captured: Diego Rhamon da Silva (2nd author) YouTube channels for more slow motion videos: @MarceloSaba @rhamon Editing by Larry O’Hanlon