The massive lightning bolt — stretching 515 miles — struck on Oct. 22, 2017, and extended from eastern Texas to Kansas City in Missouri. PEOPLE calculated that it was roughly as long as 7,553 football fields. Compared to the new 515-mile world record, the average lightning bolt size is 10 to 12 miles, according to the National Weather Service.

Lightning struck and set a world record. The flash occurred in 2017 and spanned from eastern Texas to near west-central Missouri — a distance of 515 miles, according to Smithsonian Magazine. Eight years later, scientists have recognized the lightning flash as the longest ever documented.