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  • megaflash lightning

    From JAB@21:1/5 to All on Thu Jul 31 19:52:43 2025
    XPost: sci.misc

    New world record set for longest ever 'megaflash' lightning

    A titanic bolt of lightning lit up a whopping 829km of sky from
    eastern Texas to Kansas City, Missouri in the US. The monstrous streak
    has set the new record for the longest ever lighting flash.

    It went off during a storm in October 2017 but remained undiscovered
    for almost a decade before observations made by the National Oceanic
    and Atmospheric Agency's (NOAA) GOES-16 satellite were re-examined.

    The event surpasses by almost 100km the previous record-holder which
    stretched across 3 US states during a storm in April 2020.

    https://cosmosmagazine.com/earth/earth-sciences/record-megaflash-lightning/

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  • From Retrograde@21:1/5 to JAB on Fri Aug 1 07:26:52 2025
    XPost: sci.misc

    On Thu, 31 Jul 2025 19:52:43 -0500
    JAB <[email protected]d> wrote:

    New world record set for longest ever 'megaflash' lightning

    A titanic bolt of lightning lit up a whopping 829km of sky from
    eastern Texas to Kansas City, Missouri in the US. The monstrous streak
    has set the new record for the longest ever lighting flash.

    It went off during a storm in October 2017 but remained undiscovered
    for almost a decade before observations made by the National Oceanic
    and Atmospheric Agency's (NOAA) GOES-16 satellite were re-examined.

    The event surpasses by almost 100km the previous record-holder which stretched across 3 US states during a storm in April 2020.

    https://cosmosmagazine.com/earth/earth-sciences/record-megaflash-lightning/


    The one fact you'd be interested to know - what time the flash happened
    - is absent in the article. How did it go undetected? That's a big
    one, must have been super interesting. What else do we miss when we
    are sleeping? Sasquatch pissing on the network center?

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  • From Eli the Bearded@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Fri Aug 1 21:16:57 2025
    XPost: sci.misc

    In misc.news.internet.discuss, Retrograde <[email protected]d> wrote:
    The one fact you'd be interested to know - what time the flash happened
    - is absent in the article. How did it go undetected? That's a big
    one, must have been super interesting. What else do we miss when we
    are sleeping? Sasquatch pissing on the network center?

    It happened during a majar thunderstorm. From below it probably just
    looks like a few close by lightning strikes and only from above can one
    see the full extent.

    I downloaded the PDF from here:

    https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/aop/BAMS-D-25-0037.1/BAMS-D-25-0037.1.xml

    And that gives the time:

    The present-day reanalysis focused on an exceptionally long megaflash
    within this QLCS initiated at 08:56:45.834 UTC on 22 October 2017.

    I think eastern Texas is Central Time, and I think it would have still
    been summer (daylight savings) time on that date. So that would be
    UTC-5, about 4am in the morning. Probably not too many people observing locally.

    Elijah
    ------
    knows how to follow links to a source

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  • From Retrograde@21:1/5 to Eli the Bearded on Sat Aug 2 20:52:39 2025
    XPost: sci.misc

    On Fri, 1 Aug 2025 21:16:57 -0000 (UTC)
    Eli the Bearded <*@eli.users.panix.com> wrote:

    And that gives the time:

    The present-day reanalysis focused on an exceptionally long megaflash
    within this QLCS initiated at 08:56:45.834 UTC on 22 October 2017.

    I think eastern Texas is Central Time, and I think it would have still
    been summer (daylight savings) time on that date. So that would be
    UTC-5, about 4am in the morning. Probably not too many people observing locally.

    Nice work! Yes, that would explain it.

    Shame to miss it. Imagine seeing a lightning bolt start from somewhere
    over one horizon, flash across the sky, and proceed straight across the opposite horizon. Would have been breathtaking. 500+km, wow.

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  • From Mike Spencer@21:1/5 to Retrograde on Sun Aug 3 16:04:09 2025
    Retrograde <[email protected]d> writes:

    Shame to miss it. Imagine seeing a lightning bolt start from somewhere
    over one horizon, flash across the sky, and proceed straight across the opposite horizon. Would have been breathtaking. 500+km, wow.

    Agreed! But with heavy low-level stormcloud cover, a brilliant bolt
    at a higher level would probably be seen as not much more than a
    bright flicker in clouds.

    I lived for a year in a place where spectaular lightening was frequent
    (and dangerous). Here in NS, such overt lightenihg is infrequent but
    flickers in the heavy cloud cover is common. Something is happenig
    but it's outa direct sight.


    --
    Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada

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  • From JAB@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sun Aug 3 20:18:29 2025
    On 03 Aug 2025 16:04:09 -0300, Mike Spencer
    <[email protected]e> wrote:

    Here in NS, such overt lightenihg is infrequent but
    flickers in the heavy cloud cover is common.

    I assume lightening is a function of molecular 'rubbing' so increased thermal/wind activities brings on a bigger 'light show'.

    Hence, lower molecular "black body temperatures" in NS when compared
    to say Texas.

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