So you've heard that lightning never strikes twice in the one place? How about striking two places at the one time? It turns out it does both. 

Since lightning prefers to hit the highest point around, it can strike the same place many, many times. As we reported last week, in northwestern Venezuela one location gets 1.2 million strikes a year in close conjunction. 

On the other hand, when a storm is intense enough, it can easily unleash multiple simultaneous bolts.

Which is what photographer Craig Shimala witnessed when filming this time-lapse footage of Chicago in a storm on June 30.

We particularly like that not only were three of the city's tallest buildings struck at once, but that in two cases this involved multiple paths from the clouds to the same point.

H/T Io9