QuickCheck: Is Venezuela home to the most lightning-struck region in the world?

Catatumbo lightning. Credit: Fernando Flores/Wikimedia Commons.

LIVING in a tropical country like Malaysia, we’re all used to frequent thunderstorms and lightning streaking across dark skies.

In fact, Kuala Lumpur is one of the most lightning-prone cities in Asia.

But have you ever wondered where in the world gets hit with the most lightning?

Researchers had previously identified Africa’s Congo Basin as the most lightning-prone region, but in a 2016 study using 16 years of observations from the Lightning Imaging Sensor onboard Nasa’s Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission, Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo was crowned as the "World’s Lightning Capital".

Is this true?

VERDICT:

True

According to the study, Lake Maracaibo, which also happens to be the largest lake in South America, receives an average rate of about 233 flashes per square kilometer per year.

"Lake Maracaibo has a unique geography and climatology that is ideal for the development of thunderstorms," says Dennis Buechler, one of the researchers who worked on the study.

Located in northwest Venezuela along part of the Andes Mountains, storms tend to form over Lake Maracaibo at night, as cool mountain breezes converge over the warm, moist air over the lake.

Another unique feature of Lake Maracaibo is "Catatumbo Lighting", an atmospheric phenomenon characterised by almost continuous lightning that occurs where the Catatumbo River flows into the lake.

"Catatumbo" means "House of Thunder" in the language of the local Bari people. This particular area is also known as "Maracaibo's Lighthouse" and "Never-Ending Storm of Catatumbo" due to its constant lightning activity.

Catacumbo lightning originates from a mass of storm clouds over nearby mountains, and occurs for 140 to 160 nights a year and up to 10 hours per day, with lightning flashes from 16 to 40 times per minute.

References:

1. Where Are the Lightning Hotspots on Earth?: https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/97/11/bams-d-14-00193.1.xml

2. Lightning: The regions of the world with the most lightning: https://www.meteoswiss.admin.ch/weather/weather-and-climate-from-a-to-z/thunderstorms/lightning-the-regions-of-the-world-with-the-most-lightning.html

3. Eternal Thunder: This Place in Venezuela Has the Highest Concentration of Lightning Strikes in the World:

https://earthlymission.com/eternal-thunder-this-place-in-venezuela-has-the-highest-concentration-of-lightning-strikes-in-the-world