Lightning Bolt Traveled 440 Miles. I'm Not Making It Up

Map of a complex lightning bolt that extended over a distance of
440 miles in Brazil in 2018. 

Scientists confirmed a lightning bolt a couple years ago extended over 440 miles - roughly the distance between Washington DC and Boston.

As meteorologist Marshall Shepherd reports in Forbes, the bolt was up in the clouds amid a large thunderstorm complex over southern Brazil on October 31, 2018.

How's that for a Halloween spook?

The WMO also announced another weird lightning record.  On March 4, 2009, a single lightning flash over northern Argentina lasted an amazing 16.73 seconds.

Lightning detection and science is enjoying a heyday, Shepherd notes, as technology has allowed for more precise and extensive lightning observations, such as the two "megaflashes" in South America.

Aside from the gee whiz factor in these lightning records, the study of the flashes and megaflashes will help people and planners better understand  lightning as it relates to engineering and safety, Shepherd reports in Forbes. 

I'm thinking both record breaking lightning bolts were "anvil crawlers." We see them sometimes around here in Vermont but more commonly out in the Midwest and Plains.

Anvil crawlers are spectacular lightning bolts that move mostly horizontally across the anvil shaped tops of thunderstorms. You can watch them extend their reach further and further until the flash dies.

Usually, an individual anvil crawler is over within seconds. But as these new lightning records show, it can be more spectacular than that.

In any event, read the Forbes article. It's pretty cool.