Its astonishing horizontal reach surpasses by 38 miles the previous record of 477 miles recorded during an April 2020 storm in the southern U.S. It is the first of four NOAA satellites equipped with geostationary lightning mappers, joined by similar satellites launched by Europe and China. "Adding continuous measurements from geostationary orbit was a major advance," said Michael Peterson at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. Peterson is first author of a report in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society documenting the new lightning record.Most lightning flashes are limited to less than 10 miles in reach., according to satellite observations analyzed by Peterson . Cerveny saidLightning kills 20 to 30 people each year in the U.S. and injures hundreds more.