DALLAS — A lightning flash from East Texas back in October 2017 has been certified as the longest single lightning flash in recorded history, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The powerful megaflash extended from eastern Texas to Kansas City in Missouri Brian Anthony Hernandez joined PEOPLE as a writer-editor in 2023. He was promoted to a staff editor role in January 2025.

In a recent milestone confirmed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a truly gargantuan lightning flash has claimed the title of longest ever recorded. Scientists measured it at an ...

For as long as people have watched storms roll across the sky, lightning has inspired awe and fear. You can see the flash and ...

Talk about a bolt from the blue. Scientists July 31 announced the discovery of the world's longest lightning flash ever detected – a whopping 515-mile-long bolt that blasted across central U.S. skies ...

A thunderstorm with cloud to ground lightning rages during the day in China on July 21, 2025. CREDIT: Photo by Liu Wei/Xinhua via Getty Images. Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs ...

Volcanic lightning is a striking and multifaceted phenomenon that occurs during explosive eruptions, when vigorous interactions between fragmented ash particles, volcanic gases and environmental ...

BENGALURU: Lightning does more than light up the sky and shake the ground. A new India-wide study shows that powerful ...

Engineers across many disciplines are aware of and concerned with lightning—and for good reasons. A lightning strike can cause significant structural damage, house and forest fires, and severe ...