Recorded the long zipper in the history of observations

Usually lightning in the sky no more than a couple seconds. However, on 4 March 2019 in Argentina there was an outbreak of lightning, which lasted 16,73 seconds! According to the report, the WMO, it is the long zipper in the history of observations. Last record belongs to the lightning, which flashed on 30 August 2012 in the South of France in the course of 7.74 seconds.

Satellite technology in WMO also made it possible to track the distance traveled by lightning. 17-second flash of 2019 reached more than 644 km. But this is not the limit: the lightning that struck in the southern part of Brazil on 31 October 2018, illuminated 708 km of the sky — from the East of Argentina to the Atlantic.

Lightning usually have a length of only a few kilometers. But sometimes, during particularly severe storms, they are of mesoscale size and form MegaSpace, extending for hundreds of kilometers.

Lightning is not only bright, but also dangerous. Just two days more than 100 people in India died from a lightning strike. WMO hopes that the new satellite technique observations will help in the detection of major outbreaks, and warn people, so they can stay safe.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»