Phys.org, 768-km (477 mile) US megaflash lightning discharge

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SUMMARY

A new world record for the longest megaflash lightning discharge was established on April 29, 2020, measuring 768 kilometers (477.2 miles) across the southern United States, specifically spanning Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. This record was confirmed by the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The distance is comparable to that between New York City and Columbus, Ohio, or London and Hamburg. Additionally, a separate lightning event on June 18, 2020, in Uruguay and northern Argentina lasted for 17.1 seconds, surpassing the previous duration record.

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Astronuc
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How often does something like this happen? It apparently stretched from central Texas, across Louisiana and Mississippi and into parts of Alabama, according to the image.
A single flash of lightning in the United States nearly two years ago cut across the sky for nearly 770 kilometres, setting a new world record, the United Nations said Tuesday.

The new record for the longest detected megaflash, measured in the southern US on April 29, 2020, stretched a full 768 kilometres, or 477.2 miles, across Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

That is equivalent to the distance between New York City and Columbus, Ohio, or between London and the German city of Hamburg, the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) pointed out in a statement.
https://phys.org/news/2022-02-longest-lightning-miles-states.html

I've seen 'long' lightning bolts over a large city, but nothing like that mentioned above.

A single flash that developed continuously through a thunderstorm over Uruguay and northern Argentina on June 18, 2020 lasted for 17.1 seconds—0.37 seconds longer than the previous record set on March 4, 2019, also in northern Argentina.
 
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So that's where the Texas electricity went that we didn't have during the ice storm.

Maybe we were beaming someone somewhere.
 
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