The lightning capital of the mankind can be found in Venezuela , where the Catatumbo River meets Lake Maracaibo . Here , the unequaled geographics and clime combine to make a landscape that lends itself to nocturnalthunderstormsthat peak in September as a result of humid air being swept inland , colliding with nerveless mint melody .
Known as Catatumbo lightning or the beacon of Maracaibo , the electrifying natural phenomenon does not mess around , scratch invariably for around one-half of the day in a year . It’sconsidered a signboard of respectfrom nature by the endemic people who call it “ ploi ” which translates to “ oddity ” . Come rain or shine , the nocturnal lightning is a constant that ’s become a symbolization of strength and fortitude .
It ’s been contemplate by scientists , including some at NASA , and over a decade of inquiry , we ’ve learned a lot about Venezuela ’s never - terminate Catatumbo lightning . The region sees more lightning than anywhere else on Earth , and by that we mean it ’s literally theGuinness World Recordholder for the honour .
Like all electrical storms, the beacon of Maracaibo can be very dangerous. Image credit: Jose Pestana viaflickr,CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
It sees 250 lightning flashes per square kilometer every class , amounting to about 1.6 million bolts annually . They take spot across 140–160 days of the twelvemonth , and on those day the flashes of lightning can go on for around seven to eight hours .
It ’s been mint the " lightning uppercase of the world " by NASA , and as you might expect , it can be a dangerous topographic point . “ A lot of people die each year , ” Ángel G. Muñoz , a physicist and researcher at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) , toldNASA . “ The lightning can be so continuous that you see everything around you . ”
With an norm of 28 smash per minute over seven to eight hours on a “ river of fire ” dark when the Beacon of Maracaibo is firing , it can transform nighttime into daylight . The illume experience is a shocking one , but also one people ca n’t serve but be impress by .
“ You should be afraid , but it is so telling that your care gets overwhelmed,”added Joaquín Díaz - Lobatón , a physicist and researcher at the Centro de Modelado Científico at Universidad del Zulia in Venezuela . “ You actually do n’t find fear . ”
resident in a village built on stilts are the closest observers of the electrifying phenomenon , place them in the most danger . There are around 20,000 fishers in the region , many of which live in tin shacks , and contributing to their protection was a solid motivating for researchers trying to well predict when the Catatumbo lightning might affect .
A fleet of weather balloon was deployed above Lake Maracaibo to get a skilful savvy of the phenomenon . They reveal that wet being swept in from the Caribbean Sea towards the inland mountains causes warm to collide with cold , which creates stable complaint that eventually build up and are released as lightning .
