A particularly powerful eruption of Mount Etna created a volcanic storm that sent bolts of lightning dramatically across the sky over eastern Sicily.
A volcano expert with Italy’s National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology, said today that such volcanic storms are rare but can happen in particularly violent eruptions or with volcanoes located near the sea.
Volcanologist Boris Behnke told The Associated Press that volcanic lightning was observed over Etna in 2021, and in 2015.
The eruption shortly before midnight Thursday didn’t cause any damage. But it did shoot ash 10 kilometres into the air.
Etna is one of Europe’s most active volcanoes.
https://phys.org/news/2022-02-volcanic-lightning-streaks-sky-fiery.html
