The Catatumbo Lightning
The Catatumbo Lightning is a cycle of cloud-cloud thunderstorms that are generated over the mouth of the Catatumbo river, in the southeast of Lake Maracaibo (Edo). Zulia, Venezuela) Region proclaimed by NASA as “World Lightning Capital”.
According to scientific evidence, Catatumbo Lightning is the cycle of cloud-cloud night thunderstorms with the longest recurrence period per year on Earth, from April to November, with night cycles of up to 8 hours of thunderstorms and an intensity of up to 60 lightning per minute.
The Catatumbo Lightning has been generated over the southeast of Lake Maracaibo for thousands of years which gave it a territoriality, its permanence has turned it from an icon and symbol of identity for the inhabitants of the region through history to World Icon when NASA declared “World Lightning Capital”, a fact unprecedented for a meteorological phenomenon of its kind.
The name of Lightning del Catatumbo corresponds to the name given by the inhabitants of the Zulia Region through its history to identify the aforementioned meteorological phenomenon: Catatumbari, Lighthouse or Lantern of Maracaibo and Lightning of Catatumbo.
The Catatumbo Lightning is part of the Cosmogonic Vision of Indigenous Peoples of the Zulia region in Venezuela and the bordering area with Colombia that extends from the Goajira Peninsula to the jungles of the Catatumbo River.
The Bari, an Indigenous People who lived in the jungles of the Catatumbo River between Colombia and Venezuela and on the southeast coast of Lake Maracaibo, are the ones who give the name native of Catatumbari to the aforementioned meteorological phenomenon which means “Constant Light of Heaven” and is an important part of the cosmogonic view of its people.
For the Wayuu of the Goajira Peninsula it is their God Maleiwa who manifests itself in an eternal glow of the horizon over the Zulia.
For the Yucca of the Sierra de Perijá is the Tapana Ovayarü (Lightning of the World) left by the gods as a sign of respect to our Mother Earth.
During the time of Colony and until the end of the 19th century, for four hundred years (from the 16th to the 19th century) it was known as Lighthouse or Farol de Maracaibo, for serving as a Natural Lighthouse that served as an orientation for sailors heading to the port of Maracaibo.
From the 80's of the nineteenth century, sailing on Lake Maracaibo became more frequent, sailors and fishermen called it Lightning Catatumbo when locating its origin on the mouth of the Catatumbo river.
At present, the Lightning of the Catatumbo is part of the flag, coat of arms and anthem of the Zulia state and is present in its various cultural expressions. It was declared Natural Heritage of Zulia by the Governorate of the state Zulia on September 27, 2005.
On January 28, 2014 “Zulianity Day” Johanna Hessling accreditor of Guinness World Records presented the Guinness Certificate of Recognition of Records to the Catatumbo Lightning Region, for which I had the privilege of being an applicant, for possessing the “world's highest average of lightning per Km2 per year: 250 lightning /km2/year”.
On May 2, 2016, the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorology Association (AMS) a 16-year observation by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite and proclaimed Lake Maracaibo, Lightning Region of Catatumbo, as the “World Lightning Capital”. The study was conducted by NASA and the universities of Maryland and Alabama (USA).) and the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil).
With regard to the origin of the Catatumbo Lightning, it is due to the existence of a large tropical lake, Lake Maracaibo (the largest lake in Latin America 13,210 km²) and the orographic effect produced by the circulation of trade winds that come from the northeast of the coastal region of Venezuela, that when entering the Depression of Zulia are forced by the Serranía de Perijá to change course south over the Venezuelan Andes.
During the day, the coastal soil warms up much faster than the water in the lake, the temperature difference causes the wind to blow from the lake towards the beach in the direction of Serranía de Perijá and the Andes Mountains.
At night the sense of the breeze is reversed, mountains and coastal surface cool before the lake, whose warm waters bring moisture to the atmosphere.
At a higher height the air cools and increases in weight, being heavier it is introduced as a wedge turning clockwise and lifting the hot and humid air, forming clouds of great vertical development (cumulonimbs).
The instability between rising gusts (with humidity and clouds) and downhill gusts (cold and dry air) produce static electricity charges that accumulate in the cumulonimbs, the discharge of this electricity cause lightning. #nature
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- Comments (4)
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abreusoleidy
4 years ago
Too beautiful our beloved catatumbo lightning that never ceases to dazzle us
Jamjellie
4 years ago
Wow
Sarah Ben Avraham
4 years ago
The monunmental lightning of catatumbo recor guines
Roxibell "Caro" 🤩🤩🤩
4 years ago
A gift of nature for the whole earth, because the unique phenomenon on earth also contributes to the conservation of the ozone layer
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