Longest-lasting lightning bolt struck France in 2012
A lightning strike in France on August 30, 2012, which lasted for 7.74 seconds, was declared as the longest-lasting lightning bolt by the UN World Meteorological Organisation on Friday. The horizontal bolt travelled a distance of over 200 kilometres, WMO added. Notably, a lightning strike covering over 321 kilometres in the US in 2007 is deemed the biggest in distance.