Chicago's Monday night storm packed an astonishing amount of lightning

Nearly 90,000 thunderbolts had hit northern Illinois, according to the National Lightning Detection Network. At the storms' peak, it was firing off more than 800 bolts per minute; and that only counts those that hit the ground. "There was no precedent for this," said WGN meteorologist Tom Skilling. "In every way imaginable, that storm last night was in its own league."
Hurricane-like storms rake area
The electrical storms raked the city and suburbs, bringing the Cubs game to a halt, sending residents into their basements and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of customers. Remarkably, no injuries from the lightning were reported.

The awesome display originated in the unstable humidity that built up Monday afternoon, filling the area with potential energy, meteorologists said.