Touchdown! The electrifying moment lightning struck the Empire State Building

By Emily Anne Epstein

Published: 16:50 EST, 22 June 2012 | Updated: 18:59 EST, 22 June 2012

A thunderstorm broke the sweltering heat in New York City this afternoon and with thunder, came lighting.

TV News personality Keith Olbermann tweeted an electric photograph of lightning hitting the tip of the Empire State Building.

According to the National Weather Service, the perfectly timed photograph captured quite the occurrence: the 102-story skyscraper is only struck 23 times per year.

Touchdown!

Touchdown! TV News personality Keith Olbermann tweeted an electric photograph of lightning hitting the tip of the Empire State Building

'Touchdown! Vivid thunderstorm connects with the Empire State Building,' tweeted Mr Olbermann.

It was the third photograph in a series of thunderstorm shots that the former CurrentTV commenter shared.

'I've seen thunderstorms before,' he said 'This is a thunderstorm.'

He also captured the moment the lightning made contact with the Citicorp Center, clearly mesmerized by the usual sight.

The New York City Office of Emergency Management said that in one particularly electric storm, the Empire State Building was struck eight times in 24 minutes.

Rare:

Rare: According to the National Weather Service, the perfectly timed photograph captured quite the occurrence: the 102-story skyscraper is only struck 23 times per year

But lightning can be more than just photographic fodder, the bright bolts have claimed more than a few New Yorker's lives.

In August of 2004, a college couple were killed when they stepped out of their car and into a flooded roadway in College Point, Queens, after lightning knocked over a power line and electrified the runoff.

Two young lightning-gazers in their mid-twenties were also killed in August of 2002 while they were watching an electrical storm on the roof of a four-story building on Broome Street in Chinatown.

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