There is a pretty cool pic doing the rounds of a lightning bolt striking the Vatican on the same day Pope Benedict announced his resignation.
Despite some acquaintances freaking out about it I don’t think its particularly unusual but it did make me wonder if anyone knows how often in an average year would the Vatican be struck by lightning?
Thanks!
Can someone confirm the photo is real, and not Photoshop? Seems too coincidental.
It seems pretty legit, the person who took it is a professional photographer and as he noticed a storm was coming in he set up and waited patiently for the perfect shot.
St. Peter’s is one of the highest structures in that part of Rome, being both on a hill and a freakin’ huge building in its own right.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of lightning hit it.
And there being lighting rods on all the tall buildings…
I see that Ben Franklin is still beating the “Prince of the Power of the Air”.
>>How regularly does lightning strike the Vatican? <<
Not enough.
What did I win?
Crap, that wasn’t factual.
The Vatican seems like a lightning magnet. So how did it avoid damage from lightning before lightning rods were invented?
I’ve read somewhere that there are two photographs taken independently of each other plus one film.
Thunderstorms are pretty common in Italy. This data suggests that in Rome thunderstorms occur, on average, on between about 4% of days in January and 13% of days in May.
So, this time of year is one of the least likely times for thunderstorms, with perhaps 1 day in 20 seeing a storm on average. As others have said, if a storm passes right over central Rome then the Vatican is a prime target.
Some more info here. A storm was indeed recorded in the area for three hours on Feb 11.
Thanks, not really that unexpected then!
Still a nice coincidence, though, that it was photographed on the very day the Pope announced his upcoming resignation. I’ve seen pics of lightning hitting the Empire State Building, Sears Tower, Washington Monument, etc., but never St. Peter’s Basilica before.
Unlike the Inquisition.