Catatumbo lightning

Catatumbo lightning at night

Catatumbo lightning (Spanish: Relámpago del Catatumbo)[1] is an atmospheric phenomenon that occurs over the mouth of the Catatumbo River where it empties into Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela. Catatumbo means "House of Thunder" in the language of the Bari people.[2] It originates from a mass of storm clouds at an altitude of more than 1 km (0.6 mi), and occurs for 140 to 160 nights a year, nine hours per day, and with lightning flashes from 16 to 40 times per minute.[3] It occurs over and around Lake Maracaibo, typically over a bog area formed where the Catatumbo River flows into the lake.[4] The phenomenon sees the highest density of lightning in the world, at 250 per km2.[5] In summers, the phenomenon may even occur as dry lightning without rainfall.[6]

The lightning changes its flash frequency throughout the year, and it is different from year to year. For example, it ceased from January to March 2010, apparently due to drought, leading to speculation that it might have been extinguished permanently.[7][3][8]

  1. ^ "Fogonazos: Catatumbo, the everlasting storm". Fogonazos.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
  2. ^ Varga, Tamás (19 July 2022). "Eternal Thunder: This Place in Venezuela Has the Highest Concentration of Lightning Strikes in the World". earthlymission.com. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  3. ^ a b Carroll, Rory (5 March 2010). "Drought extinguishes Venezuela's lightning phenomenon". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  4. ^ "Catatumbo Lightning – Congo". Real Travel. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Albrecht was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Falcon, Nelson (2021-05-21). "Review and Microphysics of the maximum electricity atmospheric activity in the Word: the Catatumbo Lightning (Venezuela)". Journal of Atmospheric Science Research. 4 (2). doi:10.30564/jasr.v4i2.2740. ISSN 2630-5119.
  7. ^ "Catatumbo Lightning". Wondermondo. 2010-08-21.
  8. ^ Guttman, Matt; Robert Rudman. "Venezuela's Mysterious Catatumbo Lightning Phenomenon Vanishes for Months, Then Reappears". ABC News. Retrieved 3 January 2013.