I grew around the supposed ‘Lightning Capital of the World’ region, the greater Tampa Bay area of Florida. I’m no stranger to lightning. Once while we were out on my boat back in college I waited too long to head in with a storm approaching and we were forced to haul ass through the pelting rain with lightning crashing around us, and that was probably the closest I’ve ever come to getting struck. At least, that was the time I felt like I was most vulnerable to getting hit by lightning. Still, it was nothing like what you see above.
This person in Gjerstad, Norway went out on their porch to film a lightning storm. He flipped on the camera and managed to capture a pretty spectacular strike across the valley just moments before a lightning bolt struck 5 meters away from where he was standing. The lightning bolt appears to have struck the ground just to the edge of his house and porch, which is pretty fortunate. If that bolt hit a few feet in either direction he would’ve been looking at a serious fire on his hands. (h/t DIGG Video)