On a night of many lightning blasts, these two stood out. Straddling a tall downburst core, both the nearer and farther discharges featured split-channel grounding, though the bottom of the one in the distance was obscured somewhat by the downdraft’s dust and rain foot. For this to happen, two branches of the invisible, downward-directed step leader must get grounded at the same time, each collecting a roughly equivalent amount of upward current surge to light up itself and the main channel above. This is uncommon, but I do see and photograph it on occasion, including earlier in the same storm event. Two “walking CGs” like this within a few seconds of each other is unique in my experience.
5 NE Eloy AZ (9 Jul 21) Looking WNW
32.8216, -111.5