The most intense lightning ever recorded was produced by the Hunga eruption

According to a new study, “On 15 January 2022, Hunga Volcano in Tonga produced the most violent eruption in the modern satellite era, sending a water-rich plume at least 58 km high.” “This eruption produced the most intense lightning rates ever documented in Earth’s atmosphere” Using a combination of satellite and ground-based sensors, researchers found nearly 200,000 lightning flashes in the volcanic plume throughout the eruption, peaking at more than 2,600 flashes every minute. The plume also produced the highest-altitude lightning flashes ever measured, 20 to 30 kilometres (12 to 19 miles) above sea level.

Credit:
Lightning Rings and Gravity Waves: Insights Into the Giant Eruption Plume From Tonga's Hunga Volcano on 15 January 2022
Alexa R. Van Eaton, Jeff Lapierre, Sonja A. Behnke, Chris Vagasky, Christopher J. Schultz, Michael Pavolonis, Kristopher Bedka, Konstantin Khlopenkov
Geophysical Research Letters, doi.org/10.1029/2022GL102341