FREE LUNCH THIS MORNING, A NEW RECORD SET FOR THE LONGEST LIGHTNING STRIKE. IT WAS CERTIFIED BY AN INTERNATIONAL WEATHER ORGANIZATION ON THURSDAY. AND METEOROLOGIST JOSEPH NEUBAUER JOINS US NOW. JOSEPH, THIS STRIKE, IT HAPPENED NEARLY EIGHT YEARS AGO. BUT HOW LONG WAS IT? IT WAS 515 MILES LONG, GUYS. IT CAME FROM A STORM COMPLEX THAT ACTUALLY IMPACTED PARTS OF OKLAHOMA. SCIENTISTS ARE CALLING THIS A MEGA FLASH. THIS LIGHTNING STRIKE. IT WAS FROM A 2017 STORM COMPLEX THAT STRETCHED FROM MISSOURI THROUGH EASTERN OKLAHOMA, ALL THE WAY DOWN INTO TEXAS. IT WAS ON THE NIGHT OF OCTOBER 22ND, 2017. AT THE TIME, THE WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION. THEY HAD JUST STARTED DIGGING INTO SOME NEW SATELLITE DATA FROM GOES 16. THEY ACTUALLY USED IT AT THE TIME TO DOCUMENT AND TRACK LIGHTNING DISCHARGE, BUT THE STORM KIND OF WENT UNDER. THE RADAR WAS NOT FULLY DOCUMENTED. BUT HERE TODAY OR RATHER YESTERDAY, NEARLY EIGHT YEARS LATER, A REEXAMINATION CONFIRMS THE LIGHTNING FLASH DISTANCE COMFORTABLY BEATING THE PREVIOUS RECORD FOR LONGEST LIGHTNING STRIKE THAT WAS 477 MILES FROM A STORM COMPLEX BACK IN APRIL OF 2020. A REPRESENTATIVE THERE AT THE WMO SAYS IT’S LIKELY GREATER EXTREMES STILL EXIST AND THAT WILL BE ABLE TO OBSERVE THEM WHEN MORE DATA COMES IN OVER TIME. BUT BACK TO THAT 515 MILE LIGHTNING STRIKE. JUST FOR SOME PERSPECTIVE, THERE HERE ON A FRIDAY MORNING THAT WOULD TAKE 8 TO 9 HOURS TO DRIVE A COMMERCIAL PLANE, ABOUT 90 MINUTES TO GET THAT DISTANCE. AND THEN A LITTLE BIT OF MATH EARLY THIS MORNING, JONATHAN 515 MILES. THAT TRIP WOULD TOOK LITERALLY THE LIGHTNING STRIKE 7.8 SECONDS. I MEAN, JUST AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF DISTANCE THAT ACTUALLY AFFECTED EASTERN OKLAHOMA BACK ON 2017. I DON’T EXPECT YOU TO REMEMBER THAT STORM COMPLEX. IT WAS SOME OCTOBER EVENING, WAY BACK SEVEN AND A HALF YEARS AGO. I REMEMBER WAS IT OCTOBER OF 2021? I REALLY REMEMBER ANOTHER BIG ONE. OH, WE H
‘Megaflash’ lightning bolt traveled over 500 miles, setting a new record
The 515-mile lightning strike took 7.8 seconds
The World Meteorological Organization announced that a new record was set for the longest lightning strike.The strike happened on Oct. 22, 2017, during a storm cell that covered parts of eastern Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas and Texas. The lightning strike, which scientists are calling a “megaflash,” was measured at 515 miles long. At the time, the WMO had just started using its new weather satellite for documenting and tracking lightning discharge. The storm that produced this lightning strike, however, was not fully documented in 2017. Now, eight years later, a re-examination confirmed the lightning flash distance comfortably beat the previous record of 477 miles from a storm complex in April 2020.Randall Cerveny with the WMO said it’s likely that greater extremes still exist and that we’ll be able to observe them as more data comes in over time. The 515-mile lightning strike took 7.8 seconds. To give context, a 515-mile trip would take eight to nine hours to drive or 90 minutes to fly during a commercial flight.
The World Meteorological Organization announced that a new record was set for the longest lightning strike.
The strike happened on Oct. 22, 2017, during a storm cell that covered parts of eastern Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas and Texas. The lightning strike, which scientists are calling a “megaflash,” was measured at 515 miles long.
At the time, the WMO had just started using its new weather satellite for documenting and tracking lightning discharge. The storm that produced this lightning strike, however, was not fully documented in 2017.
Now, eight years later, a re-examination confirmed the lightning flash distance comfortably beat the previous record of 477 miles from a storm complex in April 2020.
Randall Cerveny with the WMO said it’s likely that greater extremes still exist and that we’ll be able to observe them as more data comes in over time.
The 515-mile lightning strike took 7.8 seconds. To give context, a 515-mile trip would take eight to nine hours to drive or 90 minutes to fly during a commercial flight.
