Week 10
🗲 Venezuela and it's Amazing Catatumbo Lightning 🗲
Venezuela is home to one of the most interesting lightning storms. Located in Lake Maracaibo the lightning storm is practically continuous. I went through different articles and found that since it is not really a hazard and more of a natural wonder there are no mitigation efforts. I can, however include the interesting facts about this "everlasting lightning storm" in Venezuela.
Causes
First it's causes and why this storm is able to happen for so long. A video posted by Atlas Obscura gives a good explanation. In the video they say "the lake's unique shape forces warm air from the Caribbean up nearby mountains." Since the warm air front from the Caribbean clashes with the cold air found high up in the mountains, it makes nearly perfect conditions for lightning storms. The difference in temperature leads to those negative charges transferring, through energy and light, to the more positive charges. It is a rare occurence but with the commonality of this temperature clashing it is normal in Lake Catatumbo.
Facts about the Catatumbo Lightning
The video also explains that the lightning is extremely high up in the sky leading to a silent storm as well as the fact that the clouds are hit with thousands of bolts at 28 flashes per minute. Later they say El Niño, that caused a drought in Venezuela in 2010, made the lightning storm stop for a rare six weeks. That just conveys even further how often this lightning storm occurs. In another article on the phenomenon they mention that "the localized cumulonimbus storms clouds will explode, many kilometers into the troposphere, in this nightly show." So with a unique combination of the wind patterns the lightning storm rages on. In this same artcile the author mentions the locals of Lake Maracaibo who build their huts on top of the water with stilts built down below. For the locals they sleep right through this silent lightning storm. I'm sure there are different lightning storms in Venezuela but this one is the most unique, strange and interesting ones of them all by far.
https://www.roughguides.com/articles/the-worlds-most-intense-frequent-storms-venezuela/
Very interesting read!
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