Lightning flash 768 kilometers long
How far can a lightning bolt stretch? The lightning flesh can reach extremely far, as recently shown by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
In a press release published on February 1, 2022, WMO confirms that they have a new record holder. An incredibly long lightning flash spanning 477 miles (767.65 km) across three states in the southern United States was recorded by a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite during a thunderstorm on April 29, 2020.
It is not known why it took two years to officially recognize this. Perhaps no one has yet looked at the data. In any case, this flash of lightning, referred to as a "megaflare", stretched from the central Texas coast through southern Louisiana to southern Missouri. This distance is equivalent to the distance between New York and Columbus, Ohio in the United States, or the distance between London and the German city of Hamburg in Europe.
The previous record for the longest lightning bolt was held by a 440-mile (708 km) mega-flare that was seen over parts of southern Brazil on October 31, 2018.
In the same press release, the World Meteorological Organization mentions another record - for the longest duration of a single lightning flash, lasting 17.1 seconds. This flash flashed continuously during a thunderstorm over Uruguay and northern Argentina on June 18, 2020. The previous record was 16.73 seconds, or 0.37 seconds shorter than the new record, and was recorded as a continuous flash over northern Argentina on March 4, 2019.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, both records were recorded in areas prone to intense thunderstorms, called the "mesoscale convective system", whose dynamics allow for extraordinary mega-flares. Such areas include the Great Plains in North America and the Laplata Lowland in South America.
"These are extraordinary records of single lightning flashes. Environmental extremes are existing measurements of the strength of nature, as well as scientific progress in the ability to make such estimates. There are probably even greater extreme events, and we will be able to observe them as lightning detection technology improves," said Professor Randall Cerveny, rapporteur on weather and climate extremes at the World Meteorological Organization.
The way the World Meteorological Organization uses and measures lightning has changed over the years. Previously, data was collected using ground-based instruments known as the Lightning Mapping Array; however they were limited by how far they could "see".
Mega-outbursts such as those recorded during mesoscale convective systems can only be detected with cosmic lightning detectors. These new tools include the Geostationary Lightning Mappers on the GOES-16 and GOES-17 satellites used by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
