Talk:Lightning records

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Lightning records article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the subject of the article.

Add new text under old text.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Start a new topic

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Lists Low‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Lists, an attempt to structure and organize all list pages on Wikipedia. If you wish to help, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.ListsWikipedia:WikiProject ListsTemplate:WikiProject ListsList
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Weather: Thunderstorms / Tornadoes Low‑importance

	Weather portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Weather, which collaborates on weather and related subjects on Wikipedia. To participate, help improve this article or visit the project page for details. Articles Requested Project Resources Become a Member Project Talk Assessment A-Class Alerts WeatherWikipedia:WikiProject WeatherTemplate:WikiProject WeatherWeather
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.
	Tornadoes portal This article is supported by WikiProject Severe weather (assessed as Low-importance).

A fact from Lightning records appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 28 September 2025 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that an 829-kilometer-long (515 mi) lightning flash set a record eight years later?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Did you know archive/2025/September. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Lightning records.

Wikipedia

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. You can locate your hook here.No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Earth605 talk 12:10, 22 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

(

Comment or view
Article history

)

... that there was a lightning bolt 829 kilometers (515 miles) long?

Source: https://wmo.int/news/media-centre/wmo-certifies-megaflash-lightning-record-usa

ALT1: ... that a lightning flash 829 kilometers (515 miles) long set a record 8 years later? Source: https://wmo.int/news/media-centre/wmo-certifies-megaflash-lightning-record-usa
ALT2: ... that only one known lightning bolt was more than 500 miles long? Source: https://wmo.int/news/media-centre/wmo-certifies-megaflash-lightning-record-usa
Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Prudence (novel)

Created by SpiralShell (talk). Number of QPQs required: 1. Nominator has 5 past nominations.

SpiralShell (talk) 20:11, 11 August 2025 (UTC).[reply]

New enough, long enough, 16% on Earwig, and QPQ is done. It is neutralk to me, Hook is cited and in the article. Minor issues: the text Thus the maximum energy of lightning is not known with certainty. on "Highest energy" is unreferenced. Pinging @SpiralShell: for responce Warm Regards, Miminity (Talk?) (me contribs) 08:04, 23 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you @Miminity:! I have re-written the referenced statement and added a citation. SpiralShell (talk) 22:27, 24 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Good to go then.

Warm Regards, Miminity (Talk?) (me contribs) 01:19, 25 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Miminity and SpiralShell: Reviewing for promotion, and I find the source does not describe the record event as a lightning bolt but as a lightning flash or a megaflash. I am not a meteorology expert so I am not sure if the two terms are synonymous, but since the hook doesn't match the source precisely I don't feel comfortable promoting without discussion. Dclemens1971 (talk) 01:44, 10 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Miminity and SpiralShell: Thoughts?--Laun chba ller 15:19, 17 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your attention to detail on this. I don't really have the capacity right now to get into the question of if the two terms are synonymous. So I propose simply replacing "lightning bolt" with "lightning flash" or "flash of lightning" in the hook. SpiralShell (talk) 03:04, 18 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the clarification. I've updated ALT1 and am approving it to be moved into a prep area. Dclemens1971 (talk) 21:42, 20 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]