Super-Charged Lightning

A burst of lightning is one of the most powerful naturally occurring phenomena on Earth. Even stronger is a rare, high-powered lightning strike called a superbolt. “Superbolts are 1,000 times more energetic than normal lightning,” says Robert Holzworth, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington.

Holzworth recently led a team that analyzed nine years of data from lightning-detecting sensors worldwide to learn more about superbolts. Though most lightning storms occur in the summer, Holzworth found that superbolts are most common in the winter. And unlike regular lightning, which usually strikes over land, superbolts strike mostly over the ocean. That makes your odds of seeing a superbolt extremely slim—even Holzworth has not witnessed one.