One Bolt, 515 Miles: A New Lightning Record

A jaw-dropping lightning bolt that cracked across the skies from Texas to Kansas has been crowned the longest lightning strike ever recorded—stretching a mind-blowing 515 miles (829 kilometers).

Dubbed a “megaflash,” the lightning event occurred during a massive thunderstorm in October 2017, but it wasn’t discovered until years later by scientists reviewing satellite data. The bolt smashed the previous record by 38 miles and redefines just how extreme lightning can be.

“We're just starting to understand how these megaflashes work,” says Randy Cerveny, a geographical scientist with the World Meteorological Organization. “It's likely even longer bolts have happened—we just haven’t caught them yet.”

What Makes a Lightning Strike This Massive?

Unlike typical vertical lightning bolts, megaflashes travel horizontally through sprawling thunderclouds, sometimes across entire states. These monster strikes are made possible by mesoscale convective systems—superstorms that frequently rumble across the Great Plains.