science

How Big Can Lightning Get? – Livescience.com


On Oct. 22, 2017, storm clouds gathering above the central United States released a flash of lightning so huge that it illuminated the skies above Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Horizontally spanning more than 310 miles (500 kilometers) across these three states, the jolt was so unprecedented that a group of researchers wrote a study about it, describing it as a “megaflash”: It was one of the longest lightning flashes ever recorded.

Typically, regular lightning flashes measure between just 0.6 miles and 20 miles (1 and 20 km) in length. But as increasingly sophisticated mapping techniques have revealed, some truly colossal bolts are crackling above our heads. These recent discoveries raise an interesting question: How big can lightning actually get? And should we be worried about these atmospheric heavyweights?



READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.