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'The weirdest storm I've ever seen': Mancunians capture incredible scenes as silent lightning phenomenon hits region amid the heat

Social media was full of spectacular videos which showed the skies above lit up by purple lightning

Lightning over Didsbury, south Manchester

If you happened to look outside your window in Manchester last night, you'd have been in for a pretty special sight.

Scores of Mancunians captured incredible scenes as the region was hit by a phenomenon known as 'silent' or 'heat' lightning.

Social media was full of spectacular videos which showed the skies above lit up by purple lightning.

But unlike a normal thunderstorm, the weather display was without two key elements - thunder and rain.

Heat lighting, also known as silent or dry lightning, usually occurs in the American Southwest.

The phenomenon sees cloud to ground lightning that has occurred very far away, with thunder dissipating before it reaches the observer.

Many people chose to stay up to watch what one woman described as "the weirdest storm" she had ever seen.

The skies above Oldham on Monday night(Image: Ashley Caveney )

Daniel Walker captured several pink flashes of the lightning from his bedroom window on Monday night.