Dave Martin / AP
Lightning strikes behind a bridge that crosses a pond on the Alabama Shakespeare Festival grounds Montgomery, Ala., Monday, March 18, 2013. Strong storms moved across much of Alabama on Monday, bringing hail, high winds, and heavy rainfall as a cold front passed through the state.
Alessandro Di Meo / EPA
Lightning strikes St. Peter's basilica during a storm in the Vatican City on Feb. 11, 2013, the same day Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation.
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Baz Ratner / Reuters
Lightning strikes the Mediterranean Sea near Atlit, Israel on Oct. 25, 2012.
Ramon Espinosa / AP
Lightning illuminates the sky over the Malecon during a lightning storm in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Sept 19, 2012.
Peter Kneffel / EPA
A thunderstorm with lightning over the skyline of the southern German city of Munich on Sept. 10.
See more incredible lightning photos on PhotoBlog.
Alessandro Della Bella / Keystone via AP
A long time exposure photo of a thunderstorm with lightning over Zurich, Switzerland, seen from Gockhausen early Friday morning, August 24, 2012.
Arnd Wiegmann / Reuters
Lightning strikes over Uetliberg mountain during a thunderstorm in Zurich, Switzerland, early August 24, 2012.
Arno Balzarini / EPA
Arno Balzarini / EPA
A lightning bolt strikes out of dark storm clouds, as a camper watches the storm near the Piz Titschal near Obersaxen in the Grisons, Switzerland, during the night of Aug. 21.
Aly Song / Reuters
Lightning is seen above buildings during a storm in central Shanghai on August 15, 2012.
Juan Medina / Reuters
Lightning is seen in the sky above the Christopher Columbus monument at Madrid's Colon Square July 26, 2012.
See more lightning pictures on Photoblog
Adrees Latif / Reuters
Lightning strikes over a barn surrounded by a soybean crop in Donnellson, Iowa, July 13, 2012.
msnbc.com's Miguel Llanos reports: 61 percent of the contiguous U.S. was listed in drought, up from 56 percent last week, according to the National Weather Service's Drought Monitor.
"Anytime we have a drought maturing in mid-summer, the chances for rapid intensification will be there," Gary McManus, Oklahoma's associate state climatologist, told msnbc.com. "Even normal heat and dry conditions can speed that drought along." More than 1,000 counties in 26 states were named natural-disaster areas on Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The move gives that designation to any county in severe drought for eight consecutive weeks, speeding up low-cost loan assistance to farmers. Continue reading the full story.
Marian Peiger / EPA
Lightning strikes over the Danube River in the city of Bratislava, Slovakia on July 4.
Sam Yu / The Frederick News-Post via AP
A two-alarm fire started by a lightning strike from a thunderstorm late Friday night engulfs a home north of Frederick, Md., early June 30. The fire was reported at about 11:45 p.m., Friday during a storm system that went through the area. There were numerous reports of trees and power lines down in the area from the storms.
Mark Wilson / Getty Images
With more triple-digit heat in the forecast, millions of people in the Mid-Atlantic area were without power on Saturday after violent storms with 80-mph gusts toppled trees, cut power lines and killed six people in Virginia alone.
A deadly overnight storm uprooted trees around Washington, D.C., and left hundreds of thousands of people without power. NBC's Mike Viqueira reports.
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