"Thunder is impressive," Mark Twain wrote, "but it is lightning that does the work." Anyone who's watched a lightning storm will understand what he meant: Lightning is one of nature's most ...

“We call it megaflash lightning and we’re just now figuring out the mechanics of how and why it occurs,” study co-author and Arizona State University climatologist Randy Cerveny said in a statement.

An enormous, 515-mile-long flash of lightning that crossed at least three states has been named the longest in recorded history in the world. The 2017 “megaflash” stretched from eastern Texas to near ...

The powerful megaflash extended from eastern Texas to Kansas City in Missouri Brian Anthony Hernandez joined PEOPLE as a writer-editor in 2023. He was promoted to a staff editor role in January 2025.

A lightning megaflash that spanned 515 miles from Dallas to Kansas City, Missouri, has set a new world record for the longest bolt. The Oct. 22, 2017, lightning bolt was part of a large cluster of ...

Talk about a bolt from the blue. Scientists July 31 announced the discovery of the world's longest lightning flash ever detected – a whopping 515-mile-long bolt that blasted across central U.S. skies ...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Years later, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has officially confirmed the longest single lightning flash ever recorded, stemming from a powerful storm in June 2017.