You don’t want to mess with Mother Nature.
Like her counterpart, Father Time, she’s undefeated. And she’s not afraid to assert her dominance every once in a while. That was on full display in this unbelievable video out of France, which showed a tree getting completely dismantled by a fierce lightning strike.
Now, I’m sure we’ve all seen our fair share of viral lightning strike videos. One of my personal favorites, though it may be morbid, was when a cow standing out in a pasture got lit up by a lightning strike. Wrong place, wrong time… though I guarantee you that’s a world record for fastest hamburger ever cooked.
In this instance, a tall, innocent tree in France was the victim of a vicious lightning strike. Not only did the towering trunk attract a bolt, but the strike of the lightning itself caused the tree to simultaneously explode. Did you know that was possible? Because I sure didn’t.
But it makes sense, considering that lightning harnesses the power of 100 million volts and the air around a lightning bolt reaches a temperature that’s five times hotter than the surface of the sun. That raw power allowed for Mother Nature to perform an astonishing, natural magic act.
Now you see the tree… now you don’t:
Unreal.
Social media gave some shocked (no pun intended) and hilarious commentary on the incredible, tree-destroying lightning bolt in the reply section below the post:
tree got deleted
— Sebastiaan de With (@sdw) June 29, 2024
Can’t beat nature.
— Dr. Julie Gurner (@drgurner) June 29, 2024
Wow that’s genuinely one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen captured on video.
— Fantasypgatour (@fantasypgatour) June 29, 2024
Hated that tree anyway.
— Howard Wiseman (@HowSmart) June 29, 2024
If you’re wondering what’s happening here, the lightning flash-heats the tree’s sap into steam, which blows it apart from the inside out.
— ChrisO_wiki (@ChrisO_wiki) June 29, 2024
I know they say not to trust everything you read on the internet, but that seems pretty scientific. If it’s true (and I fact-checked it, so I think it is), that’s honestly one of the coolest tree/lightning facts that I’ve ever learned….
