A BOLT OF lightning that stretched nearly 800 kilometres across three US states is the new world record holder for the longest flash.

The single flash extended 767 kilometres across Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi in April 2020, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said. That beat  the old record of 709 kilometres set in 2018.

Also in 2020, a single lightning flash over Uruguay and northern Argentina lasted 17.1 seconds, nipping the old record time of 16.7 seconds.

Normally lightning does not stretch further than 10 miles and lasts less than a second, said Arizona State University’s Randall Cerveny, who is the chief of records confirmation for the meteorological organisation.

“These two lightning flash records are absolutely extraordinary,” Mr Cerveny said.

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 29.4.2020

Greatest duration of 17.102 seconds over #Uruguay and northern #Argentina on 18.6.2020@NOAA pic.twitter.com/ijPXXue0bD

— World Meteorological Organization (@WMO) February 1, 2022

Both were cloud-to-cloud, several thousand feet above the ground, so no one was in danger, he said.

These records, which are not linked to climate change, were spotted and confirmed thanks to new satellite tracking technology.

Mr Cerveny said both regions are two of the few places in the world prone to the type of intense storms that can produce what are called “megaflashes”.