Woman Discovers Sand Turned to Glass at End of Lightning Bolt

Forget a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. A Waterville woman found glass at the end of a lightning bolt just like a scene right out of the movie Sweet Home Alabama.

Angela Soucia was taking a video of the ominous storm clouds in her backyard when lightning struck during the severe storms on Monday, June 21. "It scared the crap out of me and I think I peed a little," she joked.

Soucia tried to see where the lightning bolt hit but says she didn't have any luck. "The grass is shoulder high and it was thundering again so we came back."

Her luck turned around a few days later. "I found it," said Soucia. And she found more than just the tree the lightning hit. She uncovered a fulgurite; a piece of glass created when lightning hits the sand. "See the shine? It's where the sand turned to glass."

So it's not just something that happens in the movies.

Lightning Strikes Through Tree, Turns Sand to Glass

LOOK: The most expensive weather and climate disasters in recent decades

Stacker ranked the most expensive climate disasters by the billions since 1980 by the total cost of all damages, adjusted for inflation, based on 2021 data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The list starts with Hurricane Sally, which caused $7.3 billion in damages in 2020, and ends with a devastating 2005 hurricane that caused $170 billion in damage and killed at least 1,833 people. Keep reading to discover the 50 of the most expensive climate disasters in recent decades in the U.S.