Catatumbo lightning: Venezuela’s Everlasting Storm

The mysterious “Relámpago del Catatumbo” (Catatumbo lightning) is a unique natural phenomenon in the world. Located on the mouth of the Catatumbo river at Lake Maracaibo (Venezuela), the phenomenon is a cloud-to-cloud lightning that forms a voltage arc more than five kilometers high during 140 to 160 nights a year, 10 hours a night, and as many as 280 times an hour.

This almost permanent storm occurs over the marshlands where the Catatumbo River feeds into Lake Maracaibo, and it is considered the greatest single generator of ozone on the planet, judging from the intensity of the cloud-to-cloud discharge and its great frequency.

The area sees an estimated 1,176,000 electrical discharges per year, with an intensity of up to 400,000 amperes, and is visible up to 400 km away. This is the reason why the storm is also known as the Maracaibo Beacon, as light has been used for navigation by ships for ages.

The collision with the winds coming from the Andes Mountains causes the storms and associated lightning, a result of electrical discharges through ionized gases, specifically the methane created by the decomposition of organic matter in the marshes. Being lighter than air, the gas rises up to the clouds, feeding the storms.

Catatumbo Lightning

is a unique natural phenomenon that occurs in the Catatumbo River region of Venezuela. It is characterized by an almost continuous display of lightning that can last for several hours each night. The lightning is so intense and frequent that it has been recorded as having the highest concentration of lightning in the world, earning it the nickname “The Everlasting Storm.”

This phenomenon is believed to be caused by a combination of factors, including the geographical location and weather patterns of the region. The Catatumbo River acts as a natural conductor, providing a pathway for the electrical charges to travel. Additionally, the warm, moist air from the nearby Maracaibo Lake creates the perfect conditions for the formation of thunderstorms. As the warm air rises and collides with the cooler air in the mountains, it creates an unstable atmosphere, leading to the continuous formation of thunderclouds. These thunderclouds then generate the intense lightning that illuminates the night sky.

Some local environmentalists hope to put the area under the protection of UNESCO, as it is an exceptional phenomenon and the greatest source of its type for regenerating the planet’s ozone layer.