The Sky Smoked Back · Saturday, August 22, 2026
Where were you during the lightning storm?
Everyone in Vancouver who was awake that night remembers it. Some people were caught out in it; most of us stood at a window or under a roof and watched the sky come apart. Tell us where you were — the stories go on the map and into the record of the night.
4 stories so far · 4 on the map
The map
Stylised map · pins are neighbourhood-level
Environment Canada counted roughly 1,700 to 1,800 strikes within 50 km of Vancouver that night, and more than 7,000 across the South Coast. Official strike-density maps: Environment and Climate Change Canada — Canadian Lightning Detection Network maps · Vancouver Is Awesome — strike map of the August 2026 storm
The night, hour by hour
09:58 p.m. · Kitsilano
Sample entrySample entry. We had walked down for the last of the sunset and ended up running for the trees. The whole strait was lighting up sideways. Everyone on the beach was cheering like it was fireworks.
Suzy (sample)Kitsilano beach10:41 p.m. · Main Street at 44th
Sample entrySample entry. We were on the back porch when the first bolt went off over the garages and the whole alley turned white. Nobody moved. We just sat under the roof and counted the seconds until the thunder came back.
Kris (sample)The back porch, Main Street at 44th11:20 p.m. · South-east Vancouver
Sample entrySample entry. Stuck on the platform with about forty people, all of us with phones up. The rain came in one wall and the announcement board just said HOLD.
AnonymousSkyTrain platform at Joyce-Collingwood01:05 a.m. · Burnaby
Sample entrySample entry. My kid woke up at one in the morning and we watched from the kitchen window with the lights off. She kept asking if the sky was broken.
Sample neighbourKitchen window in Burnaby