Scientists have announced that a 2017 lightning bolt has set the record for the longest lightning flash in recorded history.

A single flash of lightning that stretched across the Great Plains, from eastern Texas all the way to Kansas City, Missouri, turned out to be a staggering 515 miles long. A new report in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society documented the new lightning record, which beat the previous title holder, a 477-mile bolt from April 2020.

A record-breaking lightning megaflash, stretching 829 kilometres, stunned scientists after occurring during a thunderstorm between Texas and Kansas Ci