I ask this question way too often on this site, but why do we all live here again? Is it cost of living? I forget.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, the international group that provides Gary England with the technology and tools needed to fight evil weather villains and maxi-wedge grinders, we have learned that Oklahoma is now the official home to the world's longest recorded lightning bolt.
Here are the details via USA Today:
Talk about some shocking news from the sky!
Scientists identified all-time world records for both the longest lightning bolt — nearly 200 miles — and the world’s longest-duration lightning flash — over 7 seconds — according to a report released Thursday.
Both records were certified by the World Meteorological Organization, which is in charge of documenting such things.
Well, that's terrifying. I guess you can add 200-mile lightning bolts to the ever-growing list of Oklahoma natural disasters than can kill you. I just wish we would have known about this... sooner. Maybe then OU would have just cancelled the game against Ohio State instead of playing it. You know, because we need to protect those super fast, strong college kids who attempt to kill each other every Saturday.
Anyway, when did this massive lightning bolt strike? Was it during last week's storms? Also, was it a natural phenomenon or is Mike Morgan still conducting evil weather experiments from his hideout in Gotebo:
The record-long lightning bolt was spotted over Oklahoma on June 20, 2007, and traveled 199.5 miles, about three-quarters the length of the state. That's almost the distance from New York City to Washington, D.C.
A report about the records has been accepted for publication in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society...
This "reinforces critical safety information regarding lightning, specifically that lightning flashes can travel huge distances from their parent thunderstorms," said Randall Cerveny, chief Rapporteur of Climate and Weather Extremes for the WMO and a professor at Arizona State University.
What?! This thing happened in 2007 and we're just now hearing about it?! What the hell? That was nearly 10 years ago. Have David Boren and Harold Hamm been having coffee with the chief meteorologist at the National Weather Center or something, or did the researchers get stuck in a long drive-thru line at Braum's? I could be either one, or maybe weather officials didn't want to create unnecessary panic and / or discourage people from filming tornados from their rooftop. You have to admit those videos are always fun to watch.
===
Read More:
Stay in touch
Sign up for our free newsletter
