Record-Breaking 515-Mile-Long Lightning Strike Captured Over the US
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has certified a jaw-dropping new world record for the longest single lightning flash ever recorded.
The lightning coursed a staggering 515 miles across the southern United States—travelling all the way from eastern Texas to near Kansas City, Missouri.
The "megaflash" took place in October 2017 during a powerful thunderstorm system over the Great Plains, one of North America's most active storm zones.
The lightning bolt spanned a distance that would take a commercial plane at least 90 minutes to fly.
This new record clearly demonstrates the incredible power of the natural environment
Professor Randall Cerveny
"This new record clearly demonstrates the incredible power of the natural environment," said Professor Randall Cerveny, rapporteur of Weather and Climate Extremes for the WMO. "It is likely that even greater extremes still exist, and that we will be able to observe them as additional high-quality lightning measurements accumulate over time."
This flash surpassed the previous record holder: a 477.2 mile flash, set in the U.S. in 2020. Both records were measured using the same "great circle" distance methodology.
But the 2017 event was only recently identified through re-analysis using satellite instruments, including NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-16).
"These new findings highlight important public safety concerns about electrified clouds that can produce flashes which travel extremely large distances and have a major impact on the aviation sector and can spark wildfires," said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.
Satellite image of the record extent lightning flash that extended from eastern Texas to near Kansas City MO USA within a 22 October 2017 thunderstorm complex.
Satellite image of the record extent lightning flash that extended from eastern Texas to near Kansas City MO USA within a 22 October 2017 thunderstorm complex.
World Meteorological Organization WMO
Lightning mapping has traditionally relied on ground-based systems, but recent advancements in space-based technology have expanded the observation range. Instruments like the GOES-R series' Geostationary Lightning Mappers (GLMs), Europe's MTG Lightning Imager, and China's FY-4 satellite now provide continuous global lightning surveillance.
As these extreme cases show, lightning can arrive within seconds over a long distance.
Walt Lyons
These "megaflash" events challenge previously understood boundaries of how far and long lightning can travel and reveal more about the dangers of extreme weather.
"The extremes of what lightning is capable of is difficult to study because it pushes the boundaries of what we can practically observe," said lead author and evaluation committee member Michael J. Peterson, of the Severe Storms Research Center (SSRC) at the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA in a statement.
"Adding continuous measurements from geostationary orbit was a major advance. We are now at a point where most of the global megaflash hotspots are covered by a geostationary satellite—and data processing techniques have improved to properly represent flashes in the vast quantity of observational data at all scales,"
"The only lightning-safe locations are substantial buildings that have wiring and plumbing; not structures such as at a beach or bus stop. The second reliably safe location is inside a fully enclosed metal-topped vehicle; not dune buggies or motorcycles," warned WMO lightning expert Walt Lyons.
"As these extreme cases show, lightning can arrive within seconds over a long distance."
Other notable lightning records
The WMO has recorded other noteworthy lightning events, including:
The longest-lasting flash at 17.1 seconds over Uruguay and northern Argentina in 2020.
The deadliest direct strike, which killed 21 people in Zimbabwe in 1975.
The worst indirect strike, which killed 469 people in Egypt in 1994 after lightning ignited oil tanks that flooded the town of Dronka.
Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about lightning? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.
Reference
Peterson et al. (2025). Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/10.1175/BAMS-D-25-0037.1
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