Thunder and lightning is an uncommon phenomenon in Iceland in general, and so is a hailstorm in the middle of summer but Haraldur Eyvinds Þrastarson, a summer cottage owner in Grimsnes peninsula had an unusual experience in his cottage today according to RUV National Broadcasting Service.
He was standing by his front door along with his son when a lightning hit the cottage and blue sparks flashed around the building and even between the father and son. “My wife witnessed the sparks from a far, how a bright blue electrical arch was formed between me and my son, it was incredible” Þrastarsson said, but also reassured that neither he nor his son was hurt during the spectacle, they felt a tingle in their fingertips and that was it.
But the lightning spark was not the end of it, the weather behaved in an unusual way. The Icelandic Met Office has warned of an abnormally volatile low passing over the country, but showers and hail can accompany such weather along with the more rare thunder and lightning.
“We’ve seen some extraordinary weather here for the last hour, Þrastarson informed, We were actually sunbathing just over an hour ago, and saw the clouds gather above us with remarkable speed and then the heavens seemed to open up and an incredible hail storm was upon us, I can only describe it as something like Ragnarrök [The end of the world in Nordic mythology]. Each hail was around one centimeter, we have never seen such large hail”. He explains that they were standing in the doorway marveling the hail when the lightning hit. “It was an enormous bang! Like someone was using explosives on our porch and it knocked out the electricity in the cottage”, Þrastarson concludes. The ground was white with ice in Grimsnes peninsula when the reporter from RUV spoke with the family but the sky was clearing up and the sun was out again.