It's not quite the righttime to debunk that myth about lightning never striking the same place twice, as an enormous bolt has set a new global record.
The longest single flash of lightning has been captured by satellites of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, recorded and announced by the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization on Tuesday.
The "megaflash" stretched 768 kilometres (give or take 8 kilometres) or 477.2 miles (give or take 5 miles) across parts of the southern U.S. including Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi on April 29, 2020.
Satellite image of the lightning flash over the southern United States on Apr. 29, 2020.Credit: WMOThe flash in question measures as long as the distance between New York City and Columbus, Ohio. Or if you want another, between London and Hamburg.
Tweet may have been deleted
The previous record was 60 kilometres shorter, recorded across the sky in southern Brazil on (fittingly) Halloween in 2018.
It's actually one of two records broken, with the greatest duration for a single lightning flash of 17.102 seconds (give or take 0.002 seconds) recorded in thunderstorm over Uruguay and northern Argentina on June 18, 2020. This lengthy flash broke the previous record by a mere 0.37 seconds, also measured over northern Argentina on March 4, 2019.
Count out 17 seconds right now, I'll wait.
Satellite image of the lightning flash over Uruguay and Argentina on June 18, 2020.Credit: WMOThe new records were captured by NOAA's latest GOES-16/17 satellites which use geostationary lightning mappers (GLMs) to monitor extreme lightning continuously over the western hemisphere up to 55⁰ latitude.
SEE ALSO:The essential thing to know about NASA and NOAA's global warming newsThe findings were published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society on Tuesday by the WMO's Committee on Weather and Climate Extremes, which keeps the organisation's records of global extremes associated with different weather types.
"These extremely large and long-duration lightning events were not isolated but happened during active thunderstorms," committee member Ron Holle said in a press statement. "Any time there is thunder heard it is time to reach a lightning-safe place.”
If the WMO isn't cranking up AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" today, they're doing it wrong.
(责任编辑：探索)
Watch MTV's Video Music Awards 2016 livestream
Bill and Melinda Gates are ending their 27Bill and Melinda Gates are ending their 27
Crypto wallet MetaMask now lets you swap tokens on your phoneWatch MTV's Video Music Awards 2016 livestreamResearchers create temporary tattoos you can use to control your devices
In the future, your tattoos could be much more than just ink designs. 。Scientists have created a new
...[详细]Amazon's 'Invincible' finale explains that shocking opening
It was easy to compare the end of Invincible's first episode to one of the most talked-about scenes
...[详细]Why the spectacular Muldrow Glacier is surging in Alaska
Alaska's mighty Muldrow Glacier is moving 50 to 100 times faster than normal. It's a major surge. La
...[详细]Researcher claims to hack AirTag so it points to wrong website when scanned
That didn't take very long. A German researcher claims to have hacked Apple's new item tracker, the
...[详细]Dressage horse dancing to 'Smooth' by Santana wins gold for chillest horse
Okay forget everyone else -- this horse named Lorenzo is our favorite Olympic athlete now.。Lorenzo,
...[详细]Crypto startup Dfinity takes on Ethereum with launch of Internet Computer
It took a while to get here, but Dfinity is finally launching. In July 2018, I went to the Swiss cit
...[详细]Roku's Express 4K+ streamer brings 4K to the masses for $40
$40 for a 4K streamer? Thanks, Roku. Now, there's officially no reason left to buy a streaming devic
...[详细]Do you have 600 or more Twitter followers? You can use Twitter Spaces now.
Twitter Spaces is rolling out to a lot more users on Monday.In an announcementposted on its blog, Tw
...[详细]Pole vaulter claims his penis is not to blame
Following the cringeworthy moment in which pole vaulter Hiroki Ogita's penis grazed the bar and he f
...[详细]Why the spectacular Muldrow Glacier is surging in Alaska
Alaska's mighty Muldrow Glacier is moving 50 to 100 times faster than normal. It's a major surge. La
...[详细]Plane makes emergency landing after engine rips apart during flight
Twitter may introduce special labels for humor and satire accounts
