Double Lightning Bolts Slam 600 Million Volts into Illinois Lines

This was quite a shock - literally. A new video share from Friday's severe storms that blew through the Midwest shows double lightning bolts slamming 600 million volts into Illinois power lines.

Get our free mobile app

Dan Robinson (who's a highly recommended follow on YouTube) captured this lightning bolt Friday. Here's how he described it:

Dash cam and high-speed camera footage of a double lightning strike to high-voltage power lines near Lively Grove, Illinois on March 31, 2023. One bolt connects to the grounded shield wire that protects the live wires, the second connects to a pylon tower. Unconnected upward leaders are visible adjacent to the main channels. Filmed with a Chronos 1.4 camera set to record at 10,034 frames per second.

Watch Dan's incredible super-slow-motion video capture of this display of nature's fury. It's lightning at over 10,000 frames-per-second.

How do I know this was 600 million volts? From the National Weather Service actually. They state that an "average" lightning bolt contains about 300 million volts of energy. Since this was a double-lightning strike, even my admittedly limited math skills can figure out that's double 300 million volts equaling 600 million volts. What a striking statistic.

Personally, I'm of the opinion that 600 million is a conservative estimate. Both of these strikes were mammoth lightning bolts. I never thought I would look at 600 million volts as a conservative anything.

Like I said before, Dan Robinson is a must-follow on YouTube if you enjoy photography and/or weather stuff as he's constantly sharing interesting bits of nature.