A strange yet dreadful sight was witnessed in the Kingdom of Tonga when the Mount Hunga Tonga volcano recorded 25,500 lightning strikes in five minutes and a total of 400,000 lightning strikes in six hours.
For instance, half of the lightning strikes around the world were only seen on this mountain alone. Shock waves from the disastrous strikes were felt far and wide.
Previously, an underwater active volcano in the Tonga Islands chain in the South Pacific Ocean spewed hot ash at a height that set a new record. A year’s worth of data that reveals the records of lightning strikes has left the experts skeptical.
According to Vaisala, lightning strikes will increase worldwide in 2022. There were more than 198 million lightning strikes in the United States, 4 million more than last year. Due to the process of lightning, the surrounding atmosphere becomes extremely hot and thus has a fair share in global warming.