The world's longest lightning bolt reaches more than 320 km

The world's longest lightning bolt runs three-quarters the length of the US state of Oklahoma.

The world's longest lightning strike struck Oklahoma, USA. Illustration: Flicker.

The 321 km long lightning bolt that struck Oklahoma on July 20, 2007 was recorded by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as the longest on the planet, according to Live Science. WMO also confirmed that the longest lasting lightning bolt, lasting 7.74 seconds, belonged to a bolt that appeared in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France on August 30, 2012.

The announcement marks the first time the WMO has included lightning in its World Weather & Climate Extremes Archive, a database that tracks records for temperature, coldness, wind, rainfall and other weather events. The full WMO review of record-breaking lightning strikes was published on September 15 in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

"Lightning is a major threat that claims many lives every year. Improvements in weather detection and monitoring will help us improve public safety," said Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General of WMO.

According to the WMO, advanced lightning sensor technology has helped uncover new records, allowing the organization to add lightning calculations to its database. Randall Cerveny, who prepared the records report for the WMO, said experts can now study lightning in more detail.

About 25 millionLightning strikes the United States each year, killing an average of 49 people and injuring hundreds, according to the National Weather Service. This year, a total of 35 Americans have been killed by lightning.

According to VNE