Is there a way to make lightning?

I think I can write the script to control it easily enough, but the question is, how can I make a lightning bolt that doesn't fade when you are far away? I have rather thick fog, so at a kilometer away, a mesh rendered bolt is almost invisible.

I tried lens flare, but it doesn't seem to work well.

Is there a way to disable fog on an object, or some other way to achieve this effect?