Three years ago, a bolt of lightning crossed the United States in a single, unprecedented arc, spanning approximately 770 kilometers and earning a new world record. The event, documented with official confirmation from United Nations scientific bodies, marked the longest lightning flash ever recorded on Earth to date.
The astonishing strike unfolded over the southern United States on April 29, 2020, tracing a path that crossed Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. The World Meteorological Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, verified the length, noting that the distance is comparable to a straight line between Barcelona and Cáceres in Spain.
This record surpasses the previous longest lightning stroke by about 60 kilometers, which occurred in southern Brazil on October 31, 2018. In addition, a new report from the WMO Expert Committee on Extreme Weather and Climate has detailed the latest global lightning timing records.
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The other notable record concerns a lightning strike that persisted as part of a powerful storm over Uruguay and northern Argentina on June 18, 2020. The discharge lasted 17.1 seconds, exceeding the previous duration by 0.37 seconds, a mark set on March 4, 2019, in the same region.
“These are extraordinary records,” commented Randall Cerveny, a lead figure on extreme weather and climate at the World Meteorological Organization. “Environmental extremes are living measurements of nature’s power and the progress of science that makes such assessments possible.”
Advances in detection technology have allowed scientists to measure both the length and duration of lightning with greater precision in recent years, enabling larger and more reliable recordings than before.
New satellite systems confirmed major lightning events in 2018 and 2019, improving on older ground-based data collection methods that relied on terrestrial sensors.
“More very large extreme lightning strikes are likely to exist as detection technology improves,” Cerveny noted. The World Meteorological Organization highlighted that the records occurred in the Great Plains of North America and the La Plata basin of South America, regions known for frequent thunderstorms and the Mesoscale Convective System, a form of storm prone to intense electrical activity.
Lightning poses a real danger, claiming lives every year, a fact emphasized by WMO leadership in ongoing public statements.
People are reminded that protection from lightning is limited to large enclosed buildings or vehicles with sturdy metal roofs. Global weather agencies maintain extensive archives for climate data, including temperature, precipitation, and wind, with all records stored in the Extreme Weather and Climate Archive.
The file also contains two related lightning parameters. One tracks fatalities caused directly by lightning, with Zimbabwe recording 21 deaths in 1975 when a lightning strike hit a hut used for shelter. The other concerns indirect effects, such as complex accidents linked to lightning events, like the 1994 incident in Egypt involving a series of oil tanks that led to catastrophic outcomes.
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For further information, inquiries are managed by the environmental department through the official channels of the United Nations Multinational Weather Archives, which are maintained to ensure accurate and accessible historical weather data for researchers and the public alike.