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Gigantic lightning-spitting thundercloud appears in the skies over Tokyo【Videos】

Casey Baseel Aug 28, 2018
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Appearance of frightening but beautiful Dragon’ Nest shows that summer isn’t ready to say good-bye just yet.

It’s almost time to flip the calendar over to September, but the weather in Japan shows no signs of being ready to let go of summer. This weekend, temperatures and humidity both remained extremely high in Japan’s eastern Kanto region (which includes Tokyo), even after sundown.

At dusk on Sunday, there was still enough moisture in the air for a gigantic, towering thundercloud to form north of Tokyo, which had people in and around the capital looking up to the sky as the sun slipped towards the horizon as they filmed and photographed the dynamic view.

While it’s not an official meteorological term, many people in Japan call this kind of weather pattern a “Dragon’s Nest,” after the swirling vortex of clouds that surround the titular fortress of classic Studio Ghibli anime Castle in the Sky (also known as Laputa). And while we have to rely on myth and legend for reports that dragons breathe fire, we know for sure that this real-life Dragon’s Nest spits lightning.

関東北部にすごい積乱雲

さきほど東京から撮影 pic.twitter.com/8Zir3yb5nd

— 東山正宜　おうちで星空でも見ようよ ☄ (@itaimecom) August 26, 2018

先程届いた埼玉方面の雷雲全体像を捉えている一枚。かなとこ、キノコ状の雲が雷雨をもたらしているのが一目瞭然です。https://t.co/YA1R6ZZ2bS #かなとこ雲 #ラピュタ pic.twitter.com/8sy7ZBpFWZ

— ウェザーニュース (@wni_jp) August 26, 2018

https://twitter.com/okna_hc/status/1033653319598624769

From certain angles and sufficient distance, the cloud looked tranquil, and some of the flashes almost bring to mind the gentle blinking of the lights on top of a skyscraper.

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A post shared by あひるねこ (@ahiruneko24)

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A post shared by Yoshio (@yoshio1117)

ラピュタはここにあったんだ pic.twitter.com/Xwn0qp5q0q

— ヨリウ🍌 (@yoriu_) August 26, 2018

But as night went on, the lightning became increasingly intense, especially once the clouds drifted farther north from Tokyo.

【関東北部で雷雨、都内でも稲妻目撃】26日(日)の夕方以降は、大気の状態が不安定になり、特に関東北部で局地的に激しい雨となっています。茨城県の高萩では18時までの1時間に34.5 mmの激しい雨を観測しました。21時頃まで冠水などに注意が必要です。https://t.co/YA1R70gDAs pic.twitter.com/zQHwz4MVTz

— ウェザーニュース (@wni_jp) August 26, 2018

https://twitter.com/isseiOS/status/1033655030564311041

Sadly, no anime castle was found floating in the center of the nest of cumulonimbus clouds, but thankfully, no damage was reported from it either.