Talk about a bolt from the blue. Scientists July 31 announced the discovery of the world's longest lightning flash ever detected – a whopping 515-mile-long bolt that blasted across central U.S. skies from Dallas to Kansas City in October 2017.

The WMO’s committee on weather and climate extremes used data from the GOES 16, 17, 18 and 19 satellites, positioned some 22,236 miles above Earth’s surface, to map the origin of the flash. Each satellite has the ability to sense lightning discharges from above, even if they don’t strike the ground.