The lightning of the Catatumbo, the eternal storm of Maracaibo/Venezuela.
The Guinness organization delivered on January 28, 2014 the certification that recognizes the lightning of the Catatumbo, a unique meteorological phenomenon that is generated south of Lake Maracaibo, in the state of Zulia, in western Venezuela, as the place of the world of greater World Lightning Concentration.
The lightning of the Catatumbo records the highest density of electric shocks in the world, with more than 200/km²/year. It plays an important role in the generation of atmospheric ozone. At an incredible rate of up to 280 electric shocks per hour, it is said that the storms of the place produce 10% of the tropospheric ozone generated on the planet; So the lightning of the Catatumbo can be considered as one of the main individual regenerators of the Earth's ozone layer.
This phenomenon is characterized by the appearance of a series of lightnings almost continuously and practically silent for the great distances needed to observe the phenomenon, which occurs in clouds of great vertical development forming downloads Electrical between 1 and almost 4 kilometres high, as the winds associated with the low-level night Jet of the Maracaibo Lake basin penetrate the surface of the lake in the afternoon (when the evaporation is greater) and are forced to ascend by the Sist Perijá mountainous ema (from 3,750 MASL) and the Cordillera de Mérida, the Venezuelan branch of the Andes (up to 5,000 masl, approximately).
"The light with which the Catatumbo/Nauta Lightning/Tenacious sets the course/which limpid Bluff"
The Wari ethnicity defines it as "the concentration of millions of cowhos (fireflies) that every night gather in the Catatumbo to pay tribute to the fathers of creation", while the Yucpas and the Wayúu attribute it to the presence of the spirits of the Fallen Guajiros that shine like a kind of message, besides considering it the "eternal radiance in The Heights".!
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I've had the privilege of beeing many times to Congo Mirador, which is a palafitical village located on the south west shore of Lake Maracaibo. Congo Mirador is 300 km away from the nearest road, but a few kilometers from where the astonishing Catatumbo Lighning falls.
Jose del Carmen Guerrero lives in Congo Mirador, along with 2 generations of his family. Kind of a patriarch, is also a wealthy man, due to the crab fisheries he runs along with his sons, but also a superb host. One of my most vivid memories is to be sitting at his side, sharing a bottle of Old Parr Scotch Whisky, while he was teaching me to tell what the real Catatumbo was, when there were 4, 5, or 10 simultaneous lightnings in the warm humid night sky of southern Lake Maracaibo. One lives for moments like those ones. Definitely.
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