515-mile lightning bolt spanning three US states breaks record
The World Meteorological Organization announced this yesterday (31 July) that after reanalyzing satellite data, it confirmed this event as the longest lightning flash on record
An enormous lightning flash measuring 515 miles has been officially certified as the longest ever recorded in history.
The "megaflash" struck on 22 October 2017, stretching from eastern Texas to near Kansas City, Missouri. This distance would take at least eight hours to drive or 90 minutes by plane, according to the World Meteorological Organization, reports media.
The World Meteorological Organization, a United Nations agency, announced this yesterday (31 July) that after reanalyzing satellite data, it confirmed this event as the longest lightning flash on record.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
In comparison, an average lightning bolt typically travels less than 10 miles, the National Weather Service says.
The bolt occurred during a severe storm affecting much of the Great Plains region, reports media.
Randall Cerveny, a geography professor at Arizona State University and member of the World Meteorological Organization committee, described megaflashes as rare but not unheard of phenomena. They occur when specific atmospheric conditions create powerful thunderstorms capable of producing giant lightning bolts that can travel vast distances high above the ground, often between 10,000 and 18,000 feet in the upper layers of storms.
Such conditions are common in the Great Plains and Midwest and it arise when warm, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico collides with colder, drier air from the north causing strong atmospheric instability.
Similar megaflashes have been observed in parts of the United States, Argentina, southern France, China and Australia, reports media.
The 2017 megaflash surpassed the previous record of 477 miles set in April 2020 by about 38 miles. Scientists said advances in satellite technology allowed them to detect and precisely measure the bolt's start and end points, a capability that was unavailable at the time of the storm.
The World Meteorological Organization cautioned that megaflashes pose public safety concerns, particularly for aviation and wildfire risk. As these powerful electrical discharges travel extremely long distances within electrified clouds.
