The International Meteorological Organization (WMO), recorded on Tuesday (1st) two new records of large lightning, the so-called “megaflashes”, which occurred in the year 2020.
One of them covered the longest horizontal distance of 768 km, with a margin of error of more or less 8 km, and the other had the longest duration ever recorded so far — 17.102 seconds.
The 768 km distance covered by the new record radius took place in the southern United States on April 29, 2020, crossing parts of the states of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. The largest previous record belonged to Brazil, with a radius that covered 709 km in the south of the country in 2018.
The longest duration took place over Uruguay and Argentina on June 18, 2020, lasting 17.102 seconds with a margin of error of 0.002 seconds, the organization said. Argentina had the highest previous record, having seen, in March 2019, a lightning bolt lasting 16.73 seconds.
The new records were published in the scientific journal Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
WMO has verified 2 new world records for ⚡️⚡️lightning in notorious #megaflash hotspots
Longest distance single flash of 768 km (477.2 miles) across southern #USA on 4.29.2020
Greatest duration of 17,102 seconds over #Uruguay and northern #Argentina on 6.18.2020@NOAA pic.twitter.com/ijPXXue0bD
— World Meteorological Organization (@WMO) February 1, 2022
For WMO Secretary General Professor Petteri Taalas, the findings help support data that can help prevent deaths from lightning, especially considering the ability of extremely electrified clouds to carry “megaflashes”, such as those recorded. , for huge distances or hold them for a long period of time.
Due to their large discrepancy, the records were named as “climate extremes” by Professor Randall Cervery, who works in this folder within the WMO.
“Weather extremes are living proof of the power of nature, as is the scientific progress that allows such records to be made. It is likely that even larger events exist and that we will be able to observe them as ray detection technology increases,” he said. The detection of the rays was possible due to observations made by devices in space.
Ron Holle, a lightning expert and member of one of the WMO committees, further explained that both lightning strikes did not happen in isolated contexts, but during storms, which proves that “when you hear a storm coming, it’s time to look for a safe place. against lightning”.
Source: CNN Brasil
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