X

Crazy lightning strike looks like a roaring T. rex

A US national park looks a bit like Jurassic Park as a Tyrannosaurus rex-shaped lightning bolt rampages across a stormy sky.

Amanda Kooser
Freelance writer Amanda C. Kooser covers gadgets and tech news with a twist for CNET. When not wallowing in weird gear and iPad apps for cats, she can be found tinkering with her 1956 DeSoto.
Amanda Kooser

It's monsoon season in the US state of Arizona and that brings some gorgeous storms along with it. Hallie Larsen, a park ranger at the Petrified Forest National Park, captured an unusual burst of lightning in a photo. The bolt arcs across the landscape and forms into what looks like a Tyrannosaurus rex head, mouth agape, ready to take a bite out of a mesa.

The US Department of the Interior posted the image to its Facebook page on Wednesday, garnering thousands of reactions.

"Have you ever seen lightning make such crazy shapes?" the department asked. Facebook fans saw lots of things besides a dinosaur. Here's a brief list of other responses: the front half of a bear diving downward, a snake, Godzilla, a heart-shaped balloon, a cougar stalking its prey. An Instagram version of the photo has nearly 30,000 likes.

Facebook user Phil Kukulski took things a step further by posting a version of the image with a T. rex superimposed to match the lightning outline. For more spectacular lightning action, check out this lovely slo-mo lightning footage and a sizzling look at lightning striking the Empire State Building.

NASA sees dramatic Earth weather from space (pictures)

See all photos