If you looked up at the sky recently and thought you were hallucinating, you weren't alone. A rare thunderstorm lit up skies across Northern California, and Bay Area residents — who are decidedly not used to this sort of thing — collectively lost their minds.

And honestly? Fair.

California ranks 47th out of all 50 states plus D.C. in lightning strikes per square mile. That's not a typo. We are almost dead last in the country for electrical storms. So when thunder starts rolling and the sky starts flashing, it's the weather equivalent of spotting a celebrity at your corner bodega — technically possible, but deeply weird.

Residents across the region were treated to the show. One Bay Area local noted they could see the Sacramento thunderstorm all the way from San Mateo. Another watching from Marin said they "haven't seen lightning like this in ages." The spectacle had people glued to their windows and flooding social media, half in awe and half making sure they weren't losing it. As one SF resident put it: "I thought I was going crazy for a second — glad I'm not the only one seeing this."

But behind the novelty, there's a real concern worth flagging. Several people immediately drew the connection to 2020, when a freak lightning siege sparked hundreds of wildfires across Northern California during a brutal fire season. Dry lightning — the kind that strikes without significant rain — is one of the most dangerous ignition sources for wildfire, and California's parched landscape is basically kindling waiting for a match.

So yes, enjoy the light show. Take your videos. But maybe also keep an eye on Cal Fire updates, because Mother Nature doesn't do anything in California without sending an invoice later. The state's fire agencies should be on high alert, and the rest of us should remember that in a place this dry, even the weather can be a fiscal disaster waiting to happen.

Stay safe out there, Bay Area.