Triple Lightning Strike on Three of Chicago’s Tallest Buildings

This, via Brian. It’s not the most amazing timelapse I’ve ever seen, but the triple bolt from the blue grey makes it spectacular.

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On the right, the 442m Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower), which was the world’s tallest building from 1974 until 1998. Then in the middle, the Trump International Hotel and Tower, 423m of glass and steel. And then on the left, the John Hancock Center, built in 1969 and the first building in the world outside New York to go above 1,o00ft at 1,127ft (344m) high.

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For completion, Chicago’s third tallest structure (unstruck here) is the 1973 monolithic monstrosity AON Building, 83 floors, 346m. And for comparison, Cape Town’s tallest building, Portside Tower, is less than a third the height of the Willis Tower, at “just” 142m high.

Video: Craig Shimala