How far can a lightning bolt travel? Awfully far, as revealed by the World Meteorological Organization recently.

In a press release published on February 1, 2022, the WMO certifies that they have a new record-holder. A notoriously long flash of lightning stretching 477 miles across three states in southern US was observed by a NOAA satellite during a storm in April 29, 2020. I have no idea why it took almost two years to recognize that. Perhaps no body looked at the data until recently. Anyways, this lightning bolt, referred to as a “megaflash” stretched from the central coast of Texas to southern Mississippi, traveling over southern Louisiana. The distance is equivalent to that between New York City and Columbus, Ohio, in the United States or between London and the German city of Hamburg.

The 477-mile lightning bolt.