June-like late winter lightning lights up the skies over Decatur, Illinois Monday evening
Paul Hadfield, on his way to work Monday night, captured the dramatic lightning spawned by the evening’s powerful late winter thunderstorms. At one point, lightning data indicated as many as 800 cloud to ground strokes from the storms, some towering to heights of 42,000 ft. according to Doppler radar cloud top scans, in just a 10 minute period. Paul tells us:
“Right about when it was time to go to work last night, the heaven's opened up with an incredible deluge. It also turned into a giant lightning fest, the likes of which I haven't seen since last June.”
Many thanks, Paul, for sharing the spectacular shots with us!
Tom Skilling
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist
Photos courtesy: Paul Hadfield, Decatur, Illinois