Lightning strikes One World Trade Center in New York City
A lightning bolt struck near to One World Trade Center as Tropical Storm Henri approached New York City. Stunning video taken during Tropical Storm Henri captured the moment a bolt of lightning struck One World Trade Center and turned the Manhattan skyline a vivid shade of purple.
The clip, filmed Sunday by New York City resident Ryan Nystrom, shows lightning hitting the spire atop the skyscraper in Lower Manhattan as Henri’s outer bands whipped the five boroughs with rain.
The tower is especially prone to lightning strikes because of its height, but it was built with a “state-of-the-art protection system” that keeps not just the building safe but the surrounding area, according to a 2016 Port Authority of New York and New Jersey blog post.
“Because One WTC is 1776 feet high, the tower essentially protects anything within a circle centred around it with a radius of 1776 feet,” Alan Reiss, the director of the tower’s construction, explained at the time.
“Perhaps one in 100 lightning strikes might occur within that zone, but I never heard of lightning ever striking the [memorial] pools.”
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