stock here: Taking an hour “off” this morning, and reviewing some Neural Biology and the Cuban Refinery Explosion. I found one video that showed the initial conflagration, it did not look like it was in a storm and I saw no sign of lightning. There were only 5 views on this video. Obviously, this is security camera footage, not a handheld. Therefore there is more footage. And therefore, if the footage showed lightning hitting, then that would certainly be exciting and it would be included in the clip.
Therefore — NO LIGHTNING
I found the plant on Google Earth, no street view available. Point of interest, what camera is actually doing the filming that does exist? I did not see any lightning rods, perhaps like Hawaii, lighting is extremely rare and those standard precautions used elsewhere were considered not needed. The filling structures on the sides of the tanks are much higher than the tank, and certainly higher than the “base of the tank” where they reported that lightning had struck.
I shall attempt later to use lightning.org to view the exact time and place and see if they register lighting in the area. Noted also that the White House and the Vatican received lightning strikes all about the same time.
This link should show the relevant time, 8PM Aug 5 as reported by a resident for the first explosion. Lightning.org uses Universal Time, UTC, so we have to add 5 hours to get UTC 1 AM August 6th.
There was a lightning storm that rolled through the general area earlier that day, but there was absolutely no lightning around 1AM UTC. The closest was a single sporadic bolt around Midnight UTC but that was far inland.
Then this article from CNN stating “Lightning” but then look closely at actual quote….an electric discharge at the base of the tank. Hmmm….lightning usually hits higher up structures like the top of the tank or vapor dispersion tower.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/06/americas/cuba-lightning-strike-oil-storage-fire-intl-hnk/index.html
The article below states, this, but no word of lightning bolt. Video footage shared online shows a huge explosion at the facility, with a fireball rocketing into the sky.
The linked twitter video show the fireball but not the seconds before the fireball.