Texas Megaflash Sets New World Record for Lightning Distance

It's called a "megaflash" but it' not what you might think it is! If you’ve lived in Texas long enough, you’ve probably seen your fair share of wild storms. But back in 2017, the Lone Star State put on a lightning show so big it just broke a world record- that was discovered eight years later!

One bolt of electricity ripped through the sky from East Texas all the way to near Kansas City, Missouri, stretching an incredible 515 miles; that's longer than the drive from Dallas to El Paso!

The Texas Megaflash

So what exactly was this monster of a lightning strike? Scientists call it a “megaflash”- a rare kind of lightning that doesn’t just hit one spot, but travels cloud to cloud for hundreds of miles. Most lightning bolts barely stretch 10 miles, but megaflashes are the overachievers of the storm world. They’re so rare, less than 1% of thunderstorms ever produce one, and they only happen in massive storm systems that can rumble on for more than 14 hours.

Scientists Discover the Megaflash

Here’s the weird part: nobody even realized this record-breaker happened at the time! Back in October 2017, it was just another massive Texas thunderstorm lighting up the night. It wasn’t until years later that scientists, combing through old satellite data, spotted something unusual.

READ MORE: Interested in Being a Texas Storm Chaser? Check Out this Group

NOAA’s GOES-16 and GOES-17 satellites- think of them as storm-spotting eyes parked way up in space- had quietly captured the whole thing. Using updated lightning-mapping technology, researchers finally traced one continuous bolt stretching from East Texas all the way to near Kansas City. That’s when it clicked: this wasn’t just any lightning strike: it was a world-record megaflash hiding in plain sight.

While most lightning bolts fizzle out after a few miles, this Texas-born megaflash was in it for the long haul. Turns out, the same wide-open skies that give us jaw-dropping sunsets can also stage a lightning show for the history books.

And as scientists keep fine-tuning their tech, there’s a good chance even bigger megaflashes are out there just waiting to be found! But for now, Texas can proudly claim this electrifying title. After all, everything’s bigger in the Lone Star State even the lightning!