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Switzerland - The Swiss Federal Palace in Bern looks like a scene straight out of a painting during a thunderstorm in July 2009.

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Indonesia - This beautiful photograph taken from Ketep village in Magelang captures the moment lightning struck Mount Merapi volcano during the November 2010 eruptions.

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United States - The Empire State Building became a sight worthy of a Stephen King novel in this 1957 shot.

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Serbia - A string of lightning bolts light up the sky over Belgrade in June 2011.

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France - Sunflowers face away from the storm rolling in over Donzère in southeastern France.

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United States - An overnight storm in June 2005 produced this beautiful predawn sky over Nevada.

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United Kingdom - Lightning paints the Beckenham sky in the London Borough of Bromley during a storm in July of 1923.

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Afghanistan - Lightning frames an armored vehicle at Combat Outpost Terminator in Maiwand District, Kandahar Province, in 2010.

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Brazil - Rio de Janeiro's traditional Ipanema neighborhood turns delightfully purple during a summer storm in February 2016.

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Bosnia and Herzegovina - This photograph was taken at the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial in Potočari on July 10, 2012, the night before a mass burial for 520 recently identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

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United Kingdom - Londoners welcomed the break in the hot and humid weather brought by this August storm in 2008.

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Thailand - The sky over Bangkok is lit up by bolts during a March 2012 thunderstorm.

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Chile - This striking photo captures the moment several lightning bolts engulf the ashes produced by the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcano in June 2011.

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Switzerland - The Swiss Federal Palace seems to be the perfect setting for a stunning lightning photograph. The photographer captured this shot in May 2018.

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United States - The One World Trade Center in Manhattan taps a bolt of lightning as the sun sets behind the city during a summer storm in July 2014.

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Vietnam - The lightning above St. Joseph's Cathedral in Hanoi, during a storm on July 14, 2012, creates this beautifully eerie picture.

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China - Lightning stands out against the monochromatic buildings of Shanghai during an August 2012 storm.

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Canada - This shot captures the moment when the CN Tower in Toronto is struck by lightning during a thunderstorm in May 2011.

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Germany - Berlin rooftops light up during a thunderstorm in June 2012.

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United States - Lightning strikes Death Valley National Park in California after sunset in July of 2009.

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United States - The storm that passed through this soybean crop in Donnellson, Iowa, in July 2012 produced a perfectly drawn, Harry Potter-esque lightning bolt.

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Venezuela - Captured here is the famous Catatumbo lightning, a phenomenon that happens at the point where Lake Maracaibo and the Catatumbo River meet. It was approved for inclusion in the 2015 edition of the Guinness World Records as the place with the most lightning bolts per sq km.

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Greece - Buildings light up at Syntagma Square in central Athens amid heavy rainfall in January 2015.

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China - The heavy thunderstorm turned Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, pink and purple in September 2014.

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Japan - Sakurajima has been erupting since the mid 1950s and was photographed from Tarumizu city, producing a dirty thunderstorm in February 2016.

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United States - The famous Las Vegas Strip becomes ever more illuminated as a thunderstorm passed in September 2017.

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Thailand - Bangkok lights up with the brightness from lightning bolts during a thunderstorm in May 2010.

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Lebanon - Lightning bolts seem to connect the heavy sky with the horizon offshore Beirut in October 2008.

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United States -

This June 2015 thunderstorm caused a delay for the Major League Baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets at Turner Field in Atlanta.

See also:  The most treacherous seas and oceans in the world

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