World record 477-mile-long lightning ‘megaflash’ confirmed over U.S.

This Post story is from this article. There&#x27;s other nice images and stuff in the real source here:<p>New WMO Certified Megaflash Lightning Extremes for Flash Distance and Duration Recorded from Space<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;journals.ametsoc.org&#x2F;view&#x2F;journals&#x2F;bams&#x2F;103&#x2F;5&#x2F;BAMS-D-21-0254.1.xml?rskey=TKAeaX&amp;result=1" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;journals.ametsoc.org&#x2F;view&#x2F;journals&#x2F;bams&#x2F;103&#x2F;5&#x2F;BAMS-D...</a>

I grew up in Oklahoma and have seen my fair share of tornados and thunderstorms. But there was one in particular that I remember from 20+ years ago, and haven&#x27;t experienced the like since.<p>We had a tornado warning at work and we went outside to check the danger (if we should head to shelter). It was night, and it was calm outside, but the sky started to light up with lightning nonstop for what seemed like minutes. All around us, in every direction. Most of us just froze and stared up at the sky in silence. To shock a dozen Oklahomans into silence is quite something. I don&#x27;t know if it was a megaflash, I&#x27;ve never heard that term before, but it was something.

I <i>almost swear</i> I heard and distinctly remember this event.<p>I live in Atlanta, and that very spring I recall hearing a single thunderclap that echoed as if from another dimension. It was loud, ethereal, bellowing, deeply reverberated like nothing I&#x27;ve ever heard before.<p>I then saw several &#x2F;r&#x2F;atlanta posts that pointed out the same phenomena. (I&#x27;ll try to dig these up in Google and link them.)<p>When I mentioned it to my coworkers -- it was that remarkable -- they thought I was crazy. My proposed hypothesis at the time was that lack of pollution in the air due to pandemic shutdowns had changed the particulate matter in the atmosphere, changing reverberation physics. But that was stupid, and my coworkers just nodded it off.<p>If I can corroborate the timeline, this is pretty neat.

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20220203191307&#x2F;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&#x2F;weather&#x2F;2022&#x2F;01&#x2F;31&#x2F;world-record-lightning-megaflash-us&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20220203191307&#x2F;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.washi...</a>

That first animation is unclear to me. Is that blue area all lightning? That lasts a lot longer than 10 seconds (or those clouds are really getting a shift on).

For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

&quot;Three simultaneous lightning bolts strike ground&quot;<p>Funny how the waves are always extra blurry when that happens.

This planet is sounding more hostile than LV-426.

How many homes could this power for one day?

~768km

Imagine if one day humans could catch and store that huge power and reuse it afterwards.

I feel sorry for all the animals out there that are terrified of the sounds produced by lightning.

Are some of these events happening a sign of Day After Tomorrow heading our way?<p>It’s seems like we’ve had reports of record temps. All the drought stories. The recent Lake Powell story. Other supply issues. Baby Formula shortages. These are classic headlines where all the signs are there, but are only obvious when looking back in time that these were classic signs humanity should have noticed.<p>My examples aren’t only for extreme weather. More so that we’re not heading in the right direction and we only seem to really notice once it’s too late.