Jose A. Bernat Bacete/Moment/Getty Images
In recent years, both North and South America experienced some of the biggest and brightest bolts ever recorded, according to the World Meteorological Agency (WMO).
The first was a single lightning bolt that spanned 477.2 miles.
But the Great Plains region and La Plata Basin, where the storms that produced the record-breaking strikes passed through, are known lightning hotspots.
“The increasing number of large flashes that we are seeing now compared to a few years ago... are simply due to the recent monumental improvements in our ability to record these monsters.”
Michael Peterson, researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory, in a statement.
Stefan Nita / 500px/500px/Getty Images