Caught On Camera: Lightning Splits Martinez Tree Cleanly In Half

MARTINEZ (CBS SF) -- Wednesday's thunderstorms left minor damage in their wake, but nothing as stunning as what happened to a tree in Martinez.

A bolt of lightning is powerful enough to melt sand into glass, and when it hits a humble redwood tree, it can spark fires, explosions, or in one rare case, a perfect bifurcation down the trunk.

A quick-thinking reader of the Claycord.com News & Talk blog whipped out her phone and snapped three pictures, freezing the action in digital images.

"Cheryll" said she heard the lightning strike--it sounded like something hitting her home, but she didn't notice any damage until daylight. That's when she saw her neighbor's tree, split in two.

The Claycord.com blog reports the evergreen sapling were planted in backyards as an elementary school project over 60 years ago, in the unincorporated area of Martinez called Mt. View.