If you had to take a stab at guessing the length of the longest recorded lightning bolt, what would you guess? 50 miles? 100 miles? Nice try, but you aren't even half way there!

The flash that set the record happened during a series of thunderstorms that rolled through the United States in April of 2020. CBS2 points out that a lightning bolt normally doesn't stretch much over 10 miles in length. But the new world record stretched much farther. Try 477 miles long. That's right, this single lightning bolt stretched so far it covered the states of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi!


CBS2 reports

CBS2 reports that these two occurrences are both described as 'megaflashes'. The records were spotted and eventually confirmed thanks to new satellite tracking technology.

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