• This atmospheric phenomenon occurs only over the mouth of the Catatumbo River in Venezuela. When warm and cold fronts meet where the river empties into Lake Maracaibo, it forms just the right conditions for this phenomenon. Nearby marshes emit methane gas, improving the electrical conductivity of the clouds, which also helps cause these extended lightning strikes which can last 10 hours. It originates from a mass of storm clouds at a height of more than 1 km, and occurs during 140 to 160 nights a year, 10 hours per day and up to 280 times per hour. It occurs over and around Lake Maracaibo, typically over the bog area formed where the Catatumbo River flows into the lake. Catatumbo lightning changes its frequency throughout the year and it is different from year to year. For example, it ceased from January to March 2010, apparently due to drought, temporarily raising fears that it might have been extinguished permanently.

(Images/video taken from google/IE)