"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.

A lightning strike that stretched from Texas to Missouri in 2017 was recently certified as the longest single lightning flash in recorded history. The strike stretched a distance that would take nearly nine hours to drive.