Rare moment caught on ABC13's tower cam when lightning appears to strike building in Greenway Plaza

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Sunday, January 8, 2023
Rare moment caught on ABC13's tower cam during scattered storms
ABC13's tower camera captured electrifying lightning zip across Houston's night sky and appearing to strike a high-rise building in Greenway Plaza.

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- ABC13's tower camera captured electrifying lightning zipping across the night sky and appearing to strike a high-rise building in Greenway Plaza after the city got a whirlwind of storms overnight.

No damage was reported from the rare moment caught on camera.

A video of a dark cloud that had a funnel-like shape in the Cypress area near West and Fry Road was sent to Eyewitness News amid a tornado warning in the area Saturday night.

ABC13 Meteorologist Kevin Roth explains that the shape isn't a tornado yet. Roth said this is called a "wall cloud," which is a lowering of the base of the storm.

"This is what a tornado would actually drop out of, if one formed," Roth said. "It shows there was some rotation in the storm, but that doesn't necessarily mean a tornado actually hit the ground."

An eyewitness sent ABC13 a video of a wall cloud in northwest Harris County from Saturday's storm.

That funnel-like shape can be seen after it's highlighted by the lightning flaring in the background.

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