Where Are the Most Extraordinary Lightning Megaflashes in the Americas?

Abstract

AbstractThe Geostationary Lightning Mappers (GLMs) on NOAA’s current Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) map the lateral development of lightning flashes across the Western Hemisphere up to 54° latitude. As staring instruments that continuously observe the Americas (GOES-16) and the Pacific Ocean (GOES-17), the GLMs resolve the spatial extent of even the rarest and most exceptional lightning flashes. GOES-16 GLM observations that include the Americas’ hotspots for the largest and longest-lasting lightning “megaflashes” are used to document where and when mesoscale lightning occurs that exceeds the largest (321 km) and longest-lasting (7.74 s) flashes that have been measured by ground-based instruments. The most exceptional GLM megaflashes in terms of extent (709 km) and duration (16.730 s) were recently recognized as global lightning extremes by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). These world record cases beat the next-largest flash by 36 km and the next-longest-lasting flash by 1.5 s. The top GLM megaflashes between 1 January 2018 and 15 January 2020 that exceed the previous LMA records are concentrated in the central United States (most frequently along the Oklahoma–Arkansas border) and southern Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul) and Uruguay. The top North American megaflashes are most common from April through June and occur on between 4 and 14 nights per month. The top South American megaflashes are most frequent between October and January and likewise have a nocturnal preference following the diurnal cycle of mesoscale convective systems (MCSs). Potential future field programs that aim to observe extreme megaflashes should focus on these regions and seasons.