US Features

Family Persists With Fourth of July Tradition Despite Lightning Storms

Floridians in St. Petersburg waited out lightning and thunderstorms, determined to spend their Fourth of July on the beach.
Family Persists With Fourth of July Tradition Despite Lightning Storms
Emergency medical personnel tend to a beachgoer who was reportedly struck by lightning at St. Pete Beach in Florida on July 4, 2025. T.J. Muscaro/The Epoch Times
T.J. Muscaro
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ST. PETE BEACH, Fla.—The Fourth of July on the stretch of the Gulf of America known as St. Pete Beach began with a thundering sky and popping lights, not from fireworks but a wave of lightning storms coming in off the open water.

But the dark skies, booming thunder, and flashing lightning did not deter the day’s beachgoers. In fact, it would take lightning striking the beach and some of their fellow beachgoers to get most of them to retreat to the safety of their cars.

T.J. Muscaro
T.J. Muscaro
Author
T.J. Muscaro is an award-winning reporter and NASA Correspondent for The Epoch Times, covering the Artemis program, Space Force, and other public and private ambitions within the growing space industry. Based in Tampa, Florida, he also covers stories of extreme weather and disaster relief, as well as various matters of national and international politics.