The lightning flash extended 477 miles across states of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi
A lightning flash that occurred in April 2020 has been confirmed as the world’s greatest in length, beating the record of 440.6 miles (709 km) set in 2018. The bolt extended across the US states of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
The record-breaking bolt, measuring 477.2 miles (768 km) was confirmed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) after a long process of checking and validating satellite data.
Randall Cerveny of Arizona State University told New Scientist that the phenomenon is known as a “megaflash” because of its size, and that it moved from cloud to cloud rather than directing itself towards the earth.
The WMO also identified another lightning bolt over Uruguay and northern Argentina which lasted for 17.3 seconds – the longest duration ever recorded. The strike also took place in 2020 and beat the old record time of 16.7 seconds.
WMO has verified 2 new world records for ⚡️⚡️lightning in notorious #megaflash hotspots
Longest distance single flash of 768 km (477.2 miles) across southern #USA on 29.4.2020