Record-breaking megaflash lightning documented in North and South America

Credit: NOAA

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Mon January 31, 2022

Two new world records for megaflashes of lightning have been recorded by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), including one for longest distance of a singular flash in North America and one for longest duration in South America.

"A mega-flash is a really, really big lightning flash," Randall Cerveny, a rapporteur of Weather and Climate Extremes for WMO told CNN. "Most lightning flashes in storms travel only a few miles or so. A megaflash can extend for hundreds of miles!"

The official definition of a megaflash is any horizontal lightning bolt which travels more than 62 miles (100 kilometers.)

The new record flash went far beyond the definition.
The new record for longest single flash covered a horizontal distance of approximately 477 miles (768 kilometers) from Texas to Louisiana April 29, 2020. The impressive distance is comparable to the stretch between New York City and Columbus Ohio, said Cerveny. It bypassed the previous record by 60 kilometers.

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