The –est Climate

Extreme lightning events set records

The furthest strike was in Oklahoma, with the longest in France

THE FLASH   New techniques allow scientists to better monitor lightning flashes, leading to extreme records. 

John Britt/Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

By Thomas Sumner

- More than 2 years ago

Two electrifying light shows were much more than flashes in the pan. A 2007 thunderstorm over Oklahoma produced a lightning flash that stretched more than 321 kilometers horizontally — roughly the distance from Washington, D.C.,