Yes, these images of lightning striking the Statue of Liberty are real

On April 3, residents in the New York state area experienced severe thunderstorms with heavy rain. The National Weather Service put out high wind and flood warnings to those in the area.

In the aftermath of the storm, images of the Statue of Liberty being struck by lightning began to pop up on social media. With artificial intelligence generated images becoming increasingly popular online, people often question whether images like this are real or have been edited. A VERIFY reader texted us one of those images, asking if it really happened.

THE QUESTION

Are these images of lightning striking the Statue of Liberty real?

THE SOURCES

• Dan Martland
• National Weather Service
• Maureen O'Leary, deputy director of public affairs for NOAA’s National Weather Service 
• RevEye and TinEye, reverse image search tools

THE ANSWER

Yes, these images of lightning striking the Statue of Liberty are real.

WHAT WE FOUND

Photographer Dan Martland confirmed to VERIFY that he captured the images of lightning striking the Statue of Liberty. Martland is a photographer who regularly takes photos of the New York City skyline and shares them with media outlets and on social media.

Martland shared the Statue of Liberty images on social media on April 3 with the caption, “This afternoons [sic] passing storm didn’t disappoint.”

Reverse image searches conducted using RevEye and TinEye did not find any evidence of the image being posted prior to April 3, when the storm that the images are from happened.

“Thunderstorms moved through the region between 5 and 6 p.m. EDT on April 3,” Maureen O’Leary, deputy director of public affairs for the National Weather Service confirmed to VERIFY.

The photos were taken from “Liberty State Park in New Jersey around 6 p.m.,” Martland told VERIFY. Martland also shared with VERIFY a screenshot from when the photos were taken, and the metadata confirms the images were taken on that date and time. 

The National Weather Service also reposted Martland‘s photos on X with the caption, “Even Lady Liberty would agree: ‘When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors!’”

This would not mark the first time the Statue of Liberty has been struck by lightning. Martland has another image of lightning striking the iconic structure in 2023 pinned to his profile on X.

“I have a lot of trolls who love to say everything is fake,” Martland says, adding that if he had used AI “it wouldn’t have an out of focus bird at flag poles for starters.”

While it's unknown how often the Statue of Liberty is struck by lightning, O’Leary notes that the statue’s “height and copper coating, which conducts electricity, make it a likely point for lightning strikes.”