“The first thing that happened is I uploaded it and looked at it and called my girlfriend in. I think at that point we knew it was a really cool photo. It was something I had wanted to photograph the two years I had been here, but I didn’t really think anybody else would look at it.”

–Amateur San Francisco photographer Phil McGrew talks about his photo of a lightning strike that went viral.

(Photo: Phil McGrew/Flickr)

The USDA has unveiled a new color-coded map of planting zones showing average low temperatures across the country. It’s the first update since 1990, and it shows a hotter 21st century. Nearly entire states, such as Ohio, Nebraska and Texas, are in warmer zones.

(Photo: AP/USDA)