Video: Epic lightning strike hits the Tower of the Americas

Lightning strikes the Tower of Americas Saturday morning, June 3, 2023, as storms moved through the San Antonio area.

Friday night's thunderstorm, which dropped nearly a half-inch of rain in San Antonio, also put on quite a show.

A driver's dashboard camera video posted to Facebook shows an epic lightning strike connect with the Tower of the Americas' lightning rod during the storm.

The strike occurred around 1:20 a.m., according to driver Marc Anthony's post.

Almost exactly three years ago, another dramatic strike hit the iconic San Antonio structure.

ARCHIVES: How they built the Tower of the Americas

When negatively charged electrons in the clouds are attracted to positively charged places on the ground, we see a discharge of electricity as lightning.

Lightning rods are designed to protect buildings from a direct lightning strike by providing a path for the electrical discharge to follow. They then disperse that energy safely into the ground, according to the National Weather Service.