All photos, video and text © 2008 by Storm Highway. All usage requires a paid license - see site copyright statement Extreme close-up images of lightning striking television tower April 17, 2006 These are images of lightning striking the WVAH television tower near St. Albans, WV on April 17, 2006 captured with two cameras, one with a telephoto lens for extreme close-up imagery. Visible in the video are the following features: Molten metal - Glowing shards of molten metal arc-welded off of the antenna tip, seen drifting downwind like a fireworks burst. Lightning channel 'bead out', lightning channel breaks up into segmented beads as it decays. Channel drift - lightning channel moves along with the ambient wind direction Soft thunder - these three lightning discharges were of relatively weak intensity, and coupled with the typical slow current 'ramp-up' common with upward-moving lightning, exhibited very quiet, soft thunder (as opposed to the usual sudden explosive burst of current seen with most lightning discharges). VIDEO: Lightning strikes TV tower, up-close views - WMV, 19.0MB