"This new record clearly demonstrates the incredible power of the natural environment," professor Randall Cerveny said.

Lightning struck and set a world record. The flash occurred in 2017 and spanned from eastern Texas to near west-central Missouri — a distance of 515 miles, according to Smithsonian Magazine. Eight years later, scientists have recognized the lightning flash as the longest ever documented.

Guinness World Records may be the go-to organization for measuring the extent of (sometimes dubious) human achievement, but for natural phenomena, the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO’s) Committee on Weather and Climate Extremes sets the bar.