France holds record for longest-lasting lightning bolt

The UN World Meteorological Organization on Friday announced that France held the record for longest-lasting lightning bolt, with a flash on August 30, 2012 in the southeast of France lighting up the sky for a full 7.74 seconds.

   

The horizontal bolt travelled 200 kilometres (125 miles), the WMO's Rapporteur of Weather & Climate Extremes, Randall Cerveny, told AFP.

   

“It was a “cloud-to-cloud” discharge,” Cerveny said.

   

France was bested, however, in the distance stakes by the US. A lightning strike on June 20, 2007 in the state of Oklahoma covered a distance of 321 kilometres, the WMO said.