❝ Watch a huge lightning storm move across the eastern USA. The huge storm caused much damage and unfortunately some loss of life for people in its path.
❝ Seen from space, the lightning is seen as momentary flashes in the featured time-lapse video recorded last month by the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) aboard the GOES-16 satellite. The outline of North America is most evident during the day, while the bright lightning strikes are most evident at night
The video shows that much of the lightning occurred at the leading edge of the huge tail of the swirling storm. Because lightning frequently precedes a storm’s most violent impact, lightning data from GLM holds promise to help reduce the harm to humans from future storms.
Thanks, UrsaRodinia
Eideard 
“What’s in Trump’s 2018 budget request for science?” (scroll down to “NOAA details cuts to climate research in glowing terms”) http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/what-s-trump-s-2018-budget-request-science The budget for NOAA’s satellite branch, the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) will drop by 17%, including an already planned cut of $318 million to the GOES-R geostationary satellite program. NOAA’s two JPSS polar weather satellites would see small cuts, whereas the two polar satellites planned to follow in their wake—called the Polar Follow On—would face a cut of $189 million this year.
See also “As Arctic sea ice shows record decline, scientists prepare to go blind” https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/as-arctic-sea-ice-shows-record-decline-scientists-prepare-to-go-blind/ and “NOAA’s newest weather satellite to turn its focus to U.S.” http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2017/05/noaas_newest_weather_satellite.html
“White House budget aims to ‘slow’ gains in weather prediction, shocking forecasters” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/05/24/white-house-budget-aims-to-slow-gains-in-weather-forecasting-shocking-weather-community/
US weather: Watch lightning spread across America in unprecedented satellite video (5/24/18) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-weather-latest-updates-lightning-america-satellite-noaa-a8366836.html “The video – taken by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – comes from a brand new satellite launched to survey weather over the US. It allows scientists and weather experts to see activity above the Western Hemisphere in unprecedented detail.
The data shown in the video can be used to plot where lightning is striking. That, in turn, allows them to predict whether intense weather and storms might be forming and then becoming dangerous – potentially allowing experts to spot deadly storms before they actually arrive.”
Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research (southwest of Socorro, New Mexico) http://langmuir.nmt.edu/
The Lightning Field (Quemado, NM) https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lightning-field