DAZZLING lightning strikes lit up the sky in Bradford tonight.

Shortly after 8pm this evening, a number of lightning strikes lit up the skies across Bradford.

One Bradford resident counted three strikes, one of which was powerful enough to shake houses.

Thunderstorms do happen in summer but it is more unusual for them to hit in winter.

"I have never heard thunder like it, our house literally shook," said a resident from Tyersal in Bradford. "It was like we were at the centre of the storm."

"It was pitch black until the lightning lit the sky up."

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Lightning lit up the sky above Eccleshill.Lightning lit up the sky above Eccleshill. (Image: Daz Allon - T&A Camera Club)

One resident said on Facebook: "What an amazing thunderstorm that has just passed overhead here in Eccleshill, Bradford.

"It was certainly largest sound of thunder I have ever witnessed, and the lighting really lit up the sky so brightly."