---
title: ‘Shocking’ Results
date: 2022-02-02T05:30:00-05:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/shocking-results"
section: Articles
---
# ‘Shocking’ Results

*February 2, 2022* — by [Maryland Today Staff](/author/maryland-today-staff)


> UMD Scientist Helps Certify Two New ‘Megaflash’ Lightning Records

*I Stock 1337537097 1920x1080 — Two record-breaking lighting "megaflashes"—one that went on for about 17 seconds (satellite image below) and one that stretched nearly 500 miles (image at bottom)—were certified in the record book with the help of a UMD postdoctoral researcher.*

The [World Meteorological Organization](https://public.wmo.int/en) (WMO) on Monday announced two new world records for “megaflashes” of lightning in notorious hot spots in North and South America, and a University of Maryland scientist helped certify the results, published in the *Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society*:

- The longest single flash, which lit up 477.2 miles, (with a five-mile margin of error) across parts of the American South on April 29, 2020. That’s equivalent to a lightning bolt stretching from College Park to Cleveland.
- The greatest duration for a single lightning flash—17.102 seconds (with a 0.002-second margin of error)—from the flash that developed continuously through a thunderstorm over Uruguay and northern Argentina on June 18, 2020.


*lightning map*


*Lightning map*




**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-computer-mathematical-and-natural-sciences)