The Weather Channel showed a picture of a tree in flames and had a short headline on what lightning can do.
Looking up world records on lightning, I find that the world record lightning strike happened in October 2018 and was confirmed in 2020.
"A new world record lightning strike of 440 miles has been confirmed by the World Meteorological Organization, according to a Thursday announcement. The "megaflash" traveled that distance over parts of southern Brazil on Oct. 31, 2018, the WMO said. This is equivalent to the distance between Washington, DC, and Boston.
In addition to the longest flash in terms of distance, a world record for longest lightning strike in terms of time was also announced: A single flash lasted 16.73 seconds over northern Argentina on March 4, 2019."
We think of people being hit by lightning. Here's an article on peoples being hit by lightning.
Roy Sullivan seems to be the official record-holder. He lived from 1912-1983 and was a park ranger in Virginia. He was hit by lightning on seven occasions between 1942 and 1977. In one strike it was reported that he saw a cloud, thought that it was following him, tried to run away, but was struck anyway. That was in 1976, and his hair caught fire. His seven strikes are described in Wikipedia HERE. He's the current Guinness World Record holder, although one can find Melvin Roberts whose claim is having been hit 10 (or 11) times. He looks in rough shape in the pictures.
I came upon an amazing Dahlia display in a Grimsby garden this week, and took the opportunity to photograph the flowers yesterday. They are growing along a walkway to Centennial Park.
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