700-km 'megaflash' sets lightning record

[Still Waters 48,200]

The UN's weather agency announced Thursday the longest lightning bolt on record—a single flash in Brazil on October 31, 2018 that cut the sky across more than 700 kilometers.

That is equivalent to the distance between Boston and Washington DC in the United States, or between London and Basel, Switzerland, the World Meteorological Organization said in a statement.

WMO's committee of experts on weather and climate extremes also reported a new world record for the duration of a lightning flash, with a single flash that developed continuously over northern Argentina on March 4, 2019 lasting for a full 16.73 seconds.

The new "megaflash" records, which were verified with new satellite lightning imagery technology, were more than double the previous known record-holders, WMO said.

https://phys.org/news/2020-06-km-brazil-megaflash-lightning.html

[Hankenhunter 6,499]

You'll get a charge out of this.

https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/news/article/record-setting-700-km-megaflash-lightning-bolt-captured-in-south-america-brazil-argentina

Edited June 29 by Hankenhunter

[Piney 70,524]

Global warming.....

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lightning-may-increase-with-global-warming/

https://eos.org/science-updates/lightning-a-new-essential-climate-variable

[Hankenhunter 6,499]

2 minutes ago, Piney said:

Global warming.....

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lightning-may-increase-with-global-warming/

https://eos.org/science-updates/lightning-a-new-essential-climate-variable

I wish I could have been there to see it. It must have been awe inspiring. (Lightning lover) But, if what you've linked is true, I will probably get to, We get some real bang crashers in B.C's interior, and the Kootenay's.

[the13bats 7,229]

We got lightning alley here in floriduh, some folks pack a lunch and make a day of watching it.

[Hankenhunter 6,499]

8 minutes ago, the13bats said:

We got lightning alley here in floriduh, some folks pack a lunch and make a day of watching it.

For kicks as a kid in Manitoba I used to sit on top of the barn opposite the lightning rod hoping for a strike. My Dad; "That boy ain't right" I've since come to believe he wasn't wrong. Luckily the strike never came.

[the13bats 7,229]

I had a fiberglass cb antenna take a hit, the antenna was like powdered burnt toothpicks really weird, 

[Myles 14,049]

It's weird that it took almost 2 years to verify this.   

Bummer that harnessing the power of lightning isn't currently possible or economically sound.