Arrows of the Gods?

Weather front coming from the horizon, the sky darkened by storm clouds, and (at least 1, 3 billion per year) is struck by lightning. Last month, the US National Weather Service has announced a week promotion of safety information during a thunderstorm, to help people avoid lightning strikes, which kill an average of about 100 people each year.

Although the nature of the formation of lightning is still a matter of debate, it is known that lightning caused electrical imbalances in the clouds. This self-correcting imbalances, often with a strong flash.

23 photos via bigpicture

1) Lightning illuminates the sky behind City Hall in Athens, Georgia, in the early morning, June 18, 2009. More than 4,000 people were left without electricity in the Northeast Georgia during this storm. (AP Photo / The Athens Banner-Herald, Kelly Lambert)

2) Flashes of lightning illuminated the night sky during a summer storm on the Croatian Adriatic port of Pula, 10 July 2009. (REUTERS / Nikola Solic)

3) Lightning strikes over the Davis Besse nuclear power plant in Oak Harbor, Ohio, April 2, 2009. (AP Photo / Port Clinton News Herald, Jonathon Bird)

4) Lightning between aircraft F / A-18C Hornet of flight deck of an aircraft carrier in the «USS John C. Stennis» Pacific 8 April 2009. (Mass Communication 2nd Class Elliott Fabrizio / US Navy)

5) The spire of the 190-year old church community Medway, Massachusetts caught fire after it July 1, 2009 was struck by lightning. Firefighters extinguished the fire and the damage was only the spire. (Jim Smith, Assistant Fire Chief of Medway Fire Department, for the Boston Globe)

6) Flashes of lightning illuminated the night sky over Montevideo, Uruguay, during a lightning storm over the Uruguayan capital of 5 July 2009. (MARIANA SUAREZ / AFP / Getty Images)

7) Lightning strikes the storm clouds above the volcano Agua in Antigua, 32 kilometers from Guatemala City July 4th 2009. (REUTERS / Carlos Barria)

8) Lightning over the lake of Lecco in Italy not far from Monte Marenzio in July 2006 (Shared via Creative Commons license from photographer Marco Uberti)

9) Lightning strikes the tower from the space shuttle Endeavour, which stands atop launch pad 39A during thunderstorms at Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida July 10 2009. NASA shuttle launch attempt was canceled July 11, 2009 in order to assess the possible damage struck by lightning. (REUTERS / Gene Blevins)

10) Lightning over the Moscow River and the Kremlin in the evening July 15 2009. (AP Photo / Sergey Ponomarev)

11) Lightning illuminates the sky and reflected from the surface of buildings in Bangkok on 13 June 2009. (NICOLAS ASFOURI / AFP / Getty Images)

12) Lightning during a thunderstorm over the armored vehicle with anti-personnel mines and a surprise attack on the territory of the type MRAP US operational base in the Afghan province of Logar July 18 2009. (REUTERS / Shamil Zhumatov)

13) The flash of lightning cut the clouds in the sky above the Croatian town of Pula, July 10, 2009. (AP Photo / Darko Bandic)

14) US Marine observes the lightning flashes on the horizon during the operation to search for Taliban March 25, 2009 near the village of Bakwa in remote areas in the south-western Afghanistan. (John Moore / Getty Images)

15) Lightning hits for Flagler pier in Flagler Beach, Florida, during a summer storm on July 18 2009. (AP Photo / Daytona Beach News-Journal / David Massey)

16) Lightning hits for Flagler pier in Flagler Beach, Florida, during a summer storm on July 18 2009. (AP Photo / Daytona Beach News-Journal / David Massey)

17) A flash of lightning on aircraft carrier «John C. Stennis», which is currently located in the Gulf of Thailand. Picture taken April 8 2009. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jon Husman / US Navy)

18) The picture is taken to sea on board the ship, "Abraham Lincoln," November 2, 2002. Lightning above the horizon illuminates the Flight deck. (Lt. Troy Wilcox / U.S. Navy)