Video: Seattle Space Needle Gets Struck By Lightning

SEATTLE, WA — A rare lightning strike at the Space Needle was recorded Monday by a camera near the Seattle landmark.

The lightning strike came as a powerful snowstorm moved into the Seattle area Monday afternoon, bringing hail, thunder and rain.

The Space Needle has 24 lightning rods attached to its roof to help withstand strikes. The strike on Monday appeared to hit the actual needle at the top of the tower, which is technically the structure's 25th lightning rod.

In general, lightning storms in Seattle and the Puget Sound area are very rare — in 2011, for example, there were zero lightning storms in Seattle, according to the National Climatic Data Center.

That's due to a number of factors, but mostly it's because of the city's proximity to the cool Pacific Ocean. Here's how University of Washington meteorologist Cliff Mass explained Seattle and the Pacific Northwest's lack of lightning:

"The Pacific Ocean sea surface is quite cool and [Seattle] air is generally coming off the ocean. So we start with the lower part of the atmosphere being cool. Not good," Mass wrote on his blog. "With cool temperatures near the surface and warm air aloft, it is hard to get a large decrease of temperature with height over our region during the summer. Strike one for thunderstorms."

But Monday's strike at the Space Needle was not without precedent. Here's a video of the Space Needle getting hit by lightning in May 2009:

Image of the Space Needle via Patch.com