Catatumbo Lightning; The most electric place on Earth
In a small area of northwestern Venezuela, where the Catatumbo River meets Lake Maracaibo, you’ll discover one of nature’s most spectacular phenomena - the Catatumbo lightning. Known as Relámpago del Catatumbo, or “the everlasting storm,” this wondrous natural light show rampages through the sky for up to 160 nights a year, for as long as 10 hours at a time and produces as many as 280 per hour. The area has been labeled as the most electric place on Earth.
The persistent flashes are so bright that they can be seen for up to 250 miles and consequently were used for centuries by Caribbean navigators, resulting in the nickname “Lighthouse of Catatumbo.” To add to the beauty, the flashes appear a variety of striking colors, from reds and oranges to blues and purples, due to the presence of varying amounts of dust particles or water vapor in the atmosphere.
The topography of the area is unique because two walls of mountains surround Lake Maracaibo from three sides. When hot, moist air from the Caribbean flows into the Maracaibo basin, it is met with cooler air from the Andes and is forced upwards. The vapor then begins to condense, forming clouds that discharge electricity and ultimately, lightning is produced. The highest concentration of lightning strikes can be usually observed in October and the lowest in January and February.
In the year 2014, The Guinness Organization delivered the certification that recognizes Catatumbo Lightning as a unique meteorological phenomenon. Due to its unique potentialities, the Venezuelan Government is trying to catalog the Catatumbo Lightning as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This would make it the first-ever natural phenomena to be included in the list.
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