477.2-Mile-Long Lightning Flash Has Set A New World Record

The longest distance single flash of lightning occurred here in the United States in 2020.

February 1, 2022

Kaitlin Wright,

There is a new world record for the longest distance of a SINGLE flash of lightning and it was set right here in the United States.

According to the World Meteorological Organization there is a new single flash record at 477.2 miles stretching from Texas to Mississippi. This beats the previous record of 440.6 miles set in 2018 in Brazil. 😳 pic.twitter.com/QadD7AHtYu

— Kaitlin Wright (@wxkaitlin) February 1, 2022

According to the World Meteorologist Organization the single lightning flash that covered 477.2 miles occurred on April 29, 2020 stretching from Texas to Mississippi. This beats the previous record of 440.6 miles set in 2018 in Brazil.

Shocking! Within this cluster of storms, a single lightning bolt captured by @NOAASatellites in April 2020 was recently certified by the @WMO as the world’s longest flash on record with a distance of 477 miles. MORE: https://t.co/LdDQ0Avdll #Megaflash #Lightning #Weather pic.twitter.com/FzD9ShfnRR

— NOAA (@NOAA) February 1, 2022

While the United States is the new world record holder for the longest distance flash, the greatest duration goes to a megaflash over Uruguay and Argentina. This occurred on June 18, 2020 and was 17.102 seconds.

WMO has verified 2 new world records for ⚡️⚡️lightning in notorious #megaflash hotspots

Longest distance single flash of 768 km (477.2 miles) across southern #USA on 29.4.2020

Greatest duration of 17.102 seconds over #Uruguay and northern #Argentina on 18.6.2020@NOAA pic.twitter.com/ijPXXue0bD

— World Meteorological Organization (@WMO) February 1, 2022