Overview
- The WMO has officially certified a lightning flash that traveled 515 miles on October 22, 2017, as the new world record for a single continuous discharge.
- The record bolt spanned from eastern Texas to near Kansas City, surpassing the previous 477.2-mile benchmark set in April 2020.
- Researchers identified the megaflash only after re-examining archival data from geostationary mappers such as NOAA’s GOES-16 instrument.
- Megaflashes exceed 60 miles and originate in massive mesoscale convective systems that occur in fewer than 1% of thunderstorms.
- Improved satellite detection and data-processing advances are expected to reveal more of these extreme events and inform aviation and wildfire safety protocols.