By Tim Binnall
An enormous lightning bolt that burst forth in the sky over the United States back in 2020 has been named the longest of its kind with an astounding length of 477 miles. The megaflash's record-breaking designation was announced by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which studied satellite data to make the lofty determination. According to a press release from the group, the historic event occurred on April 29th, 2020 as a storm spread across the southern United States. The tumultuous weather produced a cloud-to-cloud lightning bolt that spanned a staggering 477 miles, which the group noted is "equivalent to the distance between New York City and Columbus, Ohio."
The megaflash over the United States wasn't the only remarkable weather moment 'honored' by the WMO as they also announced a new record holder for the longest-lasting lightning bolt. That event took place in June of 2020 during "a thunderstorm over Uruguay and northern Argentina" and lasted a whopping 17.1 seconds. The two new 'title holders,' which the group indicated occurred in "notorious hot spots in North and South America," bested their predecessors by 37 miles and 0.37 seconds, respectively.
"These are extraordinary records from single lightning flash events," marveled the WMO's Professor Randall Cerveny, who mused that "environmental extremes are living measurements of the power of nature." He theorized that "it is likely that even greater extremes still exist, and that we will be able to observe them as lightning detection technology improves." To that end, the WMO credited "advances in space-based lightning mapping" that have allowed them to obtain precise and detailed measurements of these massive bursts which otherwise wouldn't be possible with ground-based instruments.