Shake and Blow

Michael Peterson and Geoffrey Stano measured where the longest lightning flashes on Earth actually touch down, and found that the largest put ground strikes along eighty percent of their length, often into places where that flash was the only lightning in an hour

The largest lightning flashes on Earth put ground strikes along eighty percent of their length, often under quiet cloud that has produced no other lightning for an hour — well after the thirty-minute rule says it is safe to go back outside.

By Terra Daily Editorial Team · Sep 22, 2026