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Catatumbo Lightning in Venezuela 2024

The statement about lighting never striking the same place twice is proved wrong—heavily electrified storms reoccur at Lake Maracaibo every other night

Best time: May–November

Lake Maracaibo is notorious for its never-ending storms. It's the world's lighting capital and the most electrified place on Earth. Unlike any other place, lighting storms reoccur here extremely often—half of the nights in a year if to be more precise. According to statistic data, there are around 250 lighting strikes per square kilometres per year. The fact is that it happens in one and the same place makes the area a truly unique natural site.

Scientists attribute this unusual natural phenomenon to local topography and maritime factors. However, it happens that even experts can't explain some unpredictable changes, as it was, for example, in 2010, when lighting storms stopped from January to March.

The most convenient time to see the lightings is the wet season that is from May to November, and peak falls in October. Then you may be lucky to see 26 lighting flashes in a single minute. Even if you don't belong to storm-chasers, it would still be a lifetime memory, beautiful and scary at the same time.

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