Venezuela: Catatumbo Lightning

The entire point of getting to Lake Catatumbo was to spend the night on the fisherman platforms in the middle of the lake and observe the unique atmospheric phenomenon known a as Catatumbo Lightning. The location is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the place with the highest density of lightning on Earth. Lake Maracaibo is enclosed on three sides by high mountain ranges – the Andes, the Cordillera de Merida, and the Sierra de Perija. During the day, the sun heats the lake’s surface, creating massive evaporation and warm moisture-laden air. After sunset, cool winds blow down from the mountains and hit this warm air – and this collision forces the moist air rapidly upward into the upper troposphere, creating massive cumulonimbus clouds that generate near-constant static electrical discharges. The lightning is almost constant and peaks at 15-40 flashes per minute (up to 280–1,000 strikes per hour). This happened almost 300 nights per year. The storms and lightnings were quite spectacular during the night but photographing it was somehow almost impossible without special equipment – just either black or white shots. Most of the pics in this post are from the internet – but to the naked eye it looked exactly like this – absolutely surreal and spectacular!