Texas Just Beat a World Record with a 515‑Mile Lightning Bolt

It's official: Texas has scored another world record! This time it's meteorological as the world's longest lightning bolt has been confirmed across the Texas skies.

Although the confirmation was recently made, the record-breaking bolt actually occurred back in 2017.

Read More: Lightning Strikes: The Not-So-Silent Killer in Texas

The World's Longest Lightning Bolt Ever Recorded

During a massive thunderstorm complex passing through East Texas in October 2017, one bolt in particular caught the attention of scientists when, shockingly, it was seen across three separate states!

Clocking in at a length of 515 miles, this one lightning bolt originated in East Texas and was seen all the way in Kansas City, Missouri, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). In just seconds, the megaflash traveled a distance that would take a car about nine hours to make, or a commercial plane roughly one and a half hours.

Check out this graphic from WMO that shows the path of the bolt from Texas through Oklahoma and into Missouri.

This new record surpasses the old one that was set in April of 2020, also in the U.S., by 61 kilometers (38 miles). This old record had a bolt length of about 477 miles.

Scientists initially missed the record-breaking lightning bolt during their first examinations of the storm back in 2017. It wasn't until almost eight years later where they were able to re-examine the megaflash and determine that it indeed broke the world record.

Lightning Stats Worldwide

The World Meteorological Organization also highlighted some lightning extremes that occurred throughout the world. For instance, did you know that the longest flash duration from a single bolt of lightning was over 17 seconds long?

Also, back in 1975 in Zimbabwe, 21 people were killed in a single lightning strike while they were seeking shelter under a hut.