These are just three of nearly 80 cloud-to-ground strikes I captured from this spot on a marvelously electrified (albeit sometimes very dusty) Arizona night, as a series of cores passed southwestward across the field of view to my north through west. Any one of these elegantly patterned channels of plasma could kill any living thing beneath, instantly. This is why lightning safety is important, not just for photographers who shoot it, but for everybody in and near a thunderstorm.
5 NE Eloy AZ (9 Jul 21) Looking NW
32.8216, -111.5