The record was registered by the World Meteorological Organization. The thunderstorm that broke out over Brazil on October 31, 2018, stretched for 709 kilometers.
Analyzing images taken from satellites that monitor the weather, meteorologists have discovered something quite supernatural: lightning of monstrous length and unprecedented duration.
As it turned out, the lightning discharge that erupted over Brazil on October 31, 2018 stretched for 709 kilometers. This is about the same as from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
The lightning that struck Argentina on March 4, 2019 was shorter than the Brazilian one, but stayed in the sky for 16.73 seconds. Both events are considered record-breaking. That is, there were no longer and longer lightnings in the entire history of observations.
Record lightning location map.
The records were registered by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), at the "filing" of its committee, which deals with extreme weather and climate events (WMO's Committee on Weather and Climate Extremes).
From a special message follows: the previous record of length was 321 kilometers, was set on June 20, 2007 in the US state of Oklahoma. The record duration was 7.74 seconds. This is how much the lightning discharge "stretched" across France on August 30, 2012 in France.
Comparing past and current records, we can conclude: lightning is getting longer and longer. Much - almost 2 times.
Promotional video:
Longest zipper: Brazil.
Longest Lightning Bolt: Argentina
“It looks like the storm clouds have become more extended and electrified,” explains Christopher Emersic of the University of Manchester. - From this, the power of lightning increases, which resemble gigantic branches stretching into the distance, woven from successively appearing branch links.
According to WMO, lightning is not becoming more dangerous. The nightmare record set in Zimbabwe in 1975 has not yet been broken. Then a lightning strike killed 21 people at once.