--- description: You may not be able to capture lightning in a bottle, but you can certainly post it on YouTube title: WATCH: Lightning Strike in NYC Caught on Video image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85c2d2aa51d555c5/69869a6213c79f0b12192ecd/screen-shot-2014-07-02-at-9-19-23-pm.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [weather](/tag/weather/) ## weather Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # WATCH: Lightning Strike in NYC Caught on Video by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 3, 2014 1:28 AM CUT  by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 3, 2014 1:28 AM CUT ### Beautiful but Deadly: The Awesome Power of Lightning  Lightning strikes the Willis Tower in downtown on June 12, 2013 in Chicago. Scott Olson / Getty Images  Lightning is seen above buildings during a storm in central Shanghai, Aug. 15, 2012. Aly Song—Reuters  A multiple exposure photograph shows lightning striking above Maseru, capital of Lesotho, Sept. 27, 2011. Alessandro Della Bella—EPA  Summer rain storms and lightning roll across the plains near the Petrified Forest National Park, in Navajo, Ariz., Aug. 31, 2011. Ralph Lauer—ZUMA Press/Corbis  Lightning strikes over the Puyehue volcano, over 500 miles south of Santiago, Chile, Monday June 6, 2011\. Authorities have evacuated about 3,500 people in the nearby area. The volcano was calm on Monday, two days after raining down ash and forcing thousands to flee, although the cloud of soot it had belched out still darkened skies as far away as Argentina. (AP Photo/Francisco Negroni, AgenciaUno) CHILE OUT, NO PUBLICAR EN CHILE, NO SALES Francisco Negroni —AgenciaUno/AP  A lightning bolt is seen through an ash cloud erupting from the Grimsvotn volcano in Iceland, on Saturday, May 21, 2011\. British Airways, Air France-KLM Group and a dozen other carriers canceled more than 250 flights and U.S. President Barack Obama curtailed his visit to Ireland after ash from an Icelandic volcano drifted over the northern U.K. Photographer: Ragnar Axelsson/Bloomberg via Getty Images Ragnar —Bloomberg/Getty Images  Lightning strikes near the Statue of Liberty in New York City, Oct. 11, 2010. Jay Fine—Cater News  Lightning streaks across the sky as lava flows from a volcano in Eyjafjallajokul April 17, 2010\. An Icelandic volcano that is spewing ash into the air and wreaking havoc on flights across Europe appeared to be easing up on Saturday but could continue to erupt for days or even months to come, officials said. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (ICELAND - Tags: DISASTER ENVIRONMENT IMAGES OF THE DAY) BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE - RTR2UJ85 Lucas Jackson—Reuters  Lightning strikes above a cheetah with adolescent cubs on termite mound in Maasai Mara, Kenya, Sept. 22, 2009. Paul Souders—Corbis  Lightning strikes over the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) as the ship transits through the Persian Gulf, March 28, 2007. Heidi Giacalone—EPA/Corbis  Lightning strikes as the players leave the field due to the electrical storm during the NatWest Series One Day International between England and Australia played at Edgbaston in Birmingham, United Kingdom, June 28, 2005. Tom Shaw—Getty Images  A lone lightning bolt strikes the ground beneath an isolated supercell thunderstorm at sunset in Kansas, June 5, 2004. Jim Reed—Corbis  Lightning strikes the Empire State Building in New York City. Corbis  Lightning strikes during an electrical storm at night in the Grand Canyon. Kolb Brothers—National Geographic Society/Corbis ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2952412/watch-lightning-strike-in-nyc-caught-on-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2952412/watch-lightning-strike-in-nyc-caught-on-video/"},"headline":"WATCH: Lightning Strike in NYC Caught on Video","datePublished":"2014-07-03T01:28:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:08:09.877Z","description":"You may not be able to capture lightning in a bottle, but you can certainly post it on YouTube","url":"https://time.com/2952412/watch-lightning-strike-in-nyc-caught-on-video/","keywords":["weather","New York City","storm","nature","lightning"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85c2d2aa51d555c5/69869a6213c79f0b12192ecd/screen-shot-2014-07-02-at-9-19-23-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85c2d2aa51d555c5/69869a6213c79f0b12192ecd/screen-shot-2014-07-02-at-9-19-23-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Screen Shot 2014-07-02 at 9.19.23 PM","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/weather/","name":"weather"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2952412/watch-lightning-strike-in-nyc-caught-on-video/","name":"WATCH: Lightning Strike in NYC Caught on Video"}}]}] ```