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Reviewing satellite data, world climate experts recently confirmed a new world record had been set by a lightning bolt that stretched nearly the length of Florida, while another world record was set for lightning duration.
Scientists belonging to the Weather and Climate Extremes committee at the World Meteorological Organization gathered at the end of June to review new satellite lightning imagery, News4Jax reports.
A big part of the meeting was to look at new technology that has developed for mapping out lightning from space. In so doing, the researchers detected and studied lightning using the new GOES satellite to make observations from space with its lightning-mapper on.
Being able to make space-based observation gives weather scientists a unique vantage point which significantly surpasses the previous ground-based methods used to study lightning.
The previous record for the longest detected distance of a single lightning flash was set on June 20, 2007, when a bolt stretched 199.5 miles across Oklahoma.
But that record has just been broken by more than twice the distance.
At the June meeting, the experts determine that a lightning bolt that spanned across Brazil in 2018 covered approximately 440 miles, nearly the length of Florida, and more than double the distance of the previous record.
Scientists also reviewed the latest satellite data in determining that a new record had also been set for the duration of a single lightning flash.
The previous record had been set at 7.4 seconds, which occurred over Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
However, the experts determined that a single lightning flash over northern Argentina on March 4, 2019, lasted for 16.73 seconds, establishing a new world record.
While lightning can strike year-round, most lightning occurs in the summer. In the United States, lightning strikes about 25 million times a year, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
Hundreds of people are severely injured each year, a lot of them working outdoors, and it’s not necessarily something that an injury lawyer can compensate you for. In addition, 20 or more people in the US are killed per year by lightning.
Kids, especially, need to be informed about lightning safety. For more information, check out the National Weather Service website on lightning safety, as it contains animated books about lightning, games for kids, as well as resources for teachers, plus, practically everything you want to know about lightning.
