Video: Texas Tree Hit By Lightening Has Fire Burning Inside Still

A viral video filmed this month in Texas shows a tree that's been hit by lightening and the inside is burning while the outside looks untouched. A new video has gone viral of a tree in Trinity, Texas that has been struck by lightening. A tree getting struck by lightening isn't uncommon, but the way the tree burns after is. Glenn Ratcliffe is a resident and small business owner in Trinity and caught the astonishing site on video. The tree had been split open by the lightening and hollowed out by the fire on the inside. The flames from the fire are seen beginning to creep out of the trunk and out of holes in the tree.

Glenn Ratcliffe recorded the burning tree and posted it on social media. He said the wind was calm on that particular day so the fire thankfully didn't spread to any other vegetation or trees in the area.

A tree burning this way is rare, but has happened in the past. Back in 2017, tree burned in a similar manner during the wildfire in Schellville, California. A fire expert called it a "rare but fascinating phenomena" according to Newsweek. Professor Guillermo Rein, from Imperial College London told the magazine why a tree could burn in this peculiar way :

‪"What probably started as a smoldering fire after a lightning strike, very slowly carved out a hollow section inside the tree and made its way upwards. This process can produce a natural chimney inside the trunk which then transitions to flaming and accelerates the burning."

Since the video has gone viral, other people are retweeting videos of trees they've seen burning in the same manner. Scary and yet beautiful at the same time thanks to mother nature.