Impactante rayo y arcoíris sacuden Vigo

VigoÉ reported on Monday, May 25, that a lightning bolt struck over Vigo shortly after 21:00 on Sunday, producing a flash that residents said lit up the city and was captured alongside a rainbow in a widely shared photograph. The image, taken in the As Travesas neighborhood by photographer Belén Estévez, showed the bolt descending near the Santa Irene institute, with Praza de América also visible in the frame. Local media described the strike as the most striking moment of a stormy weekend across Galicia. MeteoGalicia and other local outlets separately reported hundreds of lightning discharges across the region over the same period. ### ¿Dónde se tomó la imagen que se difundió en redes? VigoÉ said the photograph was taken in As Travesas, a neighborhood in Vigo, and showed the lightning over the area of the Santa Irene institute. The outlet said the image was made by Belén Estévez and later circulated on social media before being picked up by local press. Praza de América also appeared in the image, according to VigoÉ, with barriers still in place after celebrations linked to Celta’s European qualification. (vigoe.es) That detail helped local readers identify the location of the shot. ### ¿A qué hora cayó el rayo sobre Vigo? VigoÉ said the strike came “poco después de las 21:00 horas” on Sunday, at the end of a day marked by unstable weather. (vigoe.es) The outlet described it as a late-evening discharge that illuminated the sky again after earlier storm activity. MeteoGalicia’s lightning-detection page showed no strikes registered in the 21:00-22:00 slot visible on the page snapshot returned by search, but it did show lightning activity in earlier evening hours, including three positive strikes between 19:00 and 20:00. (vigoe.es) That suggests the official network was recording electrical activity around Vigo and Galicia during the evening, even if the exact minute of the photographed bolt is not clear from the public snippet alone. ### ¿Fue un hecho aislado o parte de una tormenta mayor en Galicia? Faro de Vigo reported on May 24 that MeteoGalicia had counted 1,316 lightning discharges in the previous 24 hours after a night of flashes, thunder and showers. The same report said 349 rays illuminated Galicia during the madrugada period covered in its story. (meteogalicia.gal) Metropolitano.gal reported that MeteoGalicia’s four lightning detectors recorded the most intense electrical activity between midnight and 04:00, with more than 450 lightning events and 125 falling in Galicia. Atlántico also reported that the storm had been anticipated under a yellow warning from AEMET. (farodevigo.es) VigoÉ described the Sunday-evening strike with the rainbow as the closing image of “un fin de semana muy tormentoso” and said hundreds of thunderclaps had been heard across Galicia since Friday. ### ¿Cómo puede aparecer un arcoíris junto a un rayo? A rainbow can appear when sunlight reaches raindrops while part of the sky remains dark enough for a storm cloud and lightning to be visible. (metropolitano.gal) In the Vigo image published by local media, the frame appears to capture that overlap: rain in the air, a break in light, and an active thunderstorm cell. This is an inference from the published image and the reported weather conditions, not a quoted explanation from a meteorological agency. (vigoe.es) MeteoGalicia’s data and local reports show that the atmosphere over Galicia was unstable through the weekend, with repeated electrical activity and showers. Those are the conditions in which rapidly changing light can produce unusual sky images over short periods. ### ¿Qué fuentes oficiales siguen ahora la actividad eléctrica en Galicia? MeteoGalicia maintains the regional lightning-detection network and publishes updated strike data for Galicia, including hourly ranges and map-based monitoring. (vigoe.es) The agency says the network is intended to help track thunderstorms and adverse weather conditions across the community. AEMET issues the formal weather warnings that local media cited ahead of the latest storms affecting Vigo and the rest of Galicia. (meteogalicia.gal) For readers following any new storm cells after Sunday’s image, those two sources are the main official references, while local outlets in Vigo continue to publish photos and overnight storm updates. (atlantico.net)