GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. A wildfire that broke out in Grand Canyon National Park has now been deemed a "megafire" due to its size.The Dragon Bravo fire ignited from a lightning strike on July 4. As firefighters readied to contain the blaze, fire conditions rapidly changed, causing the fire to explode in size.As of Friday, the Dragon Bravo Fire has burned 111,970 acres, becoming a "megafire" a term given by the U.S. Forest Service when a fire reaches over 100,000 acres.SEE IT: AERIAL FOOTAGE OF GRAND CANYON WILDFIRE CAPTURES FLAMES RAVAGING HISTORIC NATIONAL PARKTrees and brush continue to be the primary fuel for the fire.Nearly 1,200 personnel are battling the wildfire, which is now 9% contained.SEE IT: CHARRED REMAINS OF HISTORIC GRAND CANYON LODGE AFTER WILDFIRE RIPS THROUGH NORTH RIMThe fire closed the Grand Canyon's North Rim for the remainder of the 2025 season after causing significant damage, including burning the historic Grand Canyon Lodge and the Grand Canyon Visitor's Center. In total, 70 structures have been lost, according to the National Park Service.Several trails within the Grand Canyon's inner rim are also closed due to smoke accumulation from the Dragon Bravo Fire.3 CRITICALLY ENDANGERED CALIFORNIA CONDORS RELOCATED DURING ARIZONA WHITE SAGE FIREFire officials said the fire continues pushing north, particularly into a burn scar from a 2006 wildfire called the Warm Fire.Weather conditions on Friday may help firefighters fight the fire, as relative humidity is expected to be within 15-20%, the highest humidity in eight days.But overall, extreme fire conditions still remain in place.

NEW YORK The largest mass transit system in the country was swamped by flash flooding as water poured into New York City's subway system and Grand Central Terminal, causing a travel nightmare for commuters Thursday.The messy commute across the Big Apple and much of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic was brought on by heavy rain from severe thunderstorms, which prompted New York Governor Kathy Hochul to declare a State of Emergency.Water could be seen cascading onto a Metro North train on one of Grand Central's 44 platforms, the most in the country.The view from inside the cab made it look like the train was parked under a waterfall.DEADLY FLASH FLOODING SWAMPS I-95 CORRIDOR, PROMPTING WATER RESCUES AND STATES OF EMERGENCYMeanwhile, straphangers in Brooklyn were forced to climb along fencing to avoid wading through murky water that had seeped into the 7th Avenue station.Water even poured inside subway cars on the 6 line, sending riders to the exits.The floodwaters caused delays for millions of commuters who tried to head home and avoid the worst of the rain.Brooklyn's Prospect Park recorded 2.49 inches of rain Thursday. Bayside, Queens recorded 6.35 inches.The Long Island Railroad, which stops at Grand Central, was partially suspended due to flooding. Video out of Queens showed firefighters assisting some passengers out of a train that was halted due to the severe weather.The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) said it suspended traffic in both directions on the Port Washington Branch due to flooding east of Flushing Main Street.Delays spilled into Friday morning as crews worked to repair damage caused by Thursday's storm, the MTA said.The MTA says it served roughly 3.4 million riders daily in 2024.

The World Meteorological Organization says there is a new record-holder when it comes to lightning bolts seen from space - an extraordinary 515-mile streak which illuminated the skies from eastern Texas through Missouri in October 2017.The record-breaking "megaflash" occurred during a thunderstorm system known as a Mesoscale Convective System, which was moving along the Gulf Coast ahead of a frontal boundary.Members of the WMO said they were able to identify the bolt using satellite-based mapping technology and submitted their findings to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society."This new record clearly demonstrates the incredible power of the natural environment," Randall Cerveny, a member of the WMO, stated. "It also testifies to the significant scientific progress in observing and evaluating such extreme events."WHAT IS HOTTER: LIGHTNING OR FIREWORKS?Recent advances in space-based lightning mapping technology are said to aid in the ability to measure flashes more accurately."The extremes of what lightning is capable of is difficult to study because it pushes the boundaries of what we can practically observe," Michael Peterson, lead author and committee member of the Severe Storms Research Center, said in a statement. "Adding continuous measurements from geostationary orbit was a major advance. We are now at a point where most of the global megaflash hotspots are covered by a geostationary satellite, and data processing techniques have improved to properly represent flashes in the vast quantity of observational data at all scales."The flash replaces the previous record holder, which occurred in April 2020, when a bolt's flash was estimated to have been more than 477 miles long and stretched from Texas through Mississippi.Vaisala, a global technology company, detected some 242,101,157 lightning bolts in the skies over the U.S. in 2024, with an annual average of more than 20 million that actually reach the ground.WHICH STATES HAVE THE MOST LIGHTNING INSURANCE CLAIMS?In addition to records relating to the length of the flash, the WMO also highlighted other historical incidents involving acts of Mother Nature.The longest-duration flash on record lasted more than 17 seconds over parts of Uruguay and northern Argentina in June 2020.Other notable lightning-related incidents include a 1975 strike that killed 21 people in Zimbabwe and a 1994 incident in Egypt that killed 469 due to a lightning-induced oil tank fire.The organization emphasized that while lightning remains a source of awe, it is also a considerable public safety hazard."Lightning claims many lives each year and can spark wildfires or pose hazards to aviation," WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo stated. "Understanding the scale and behavior of extreme flashes is vital for public safety and risk management."

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