Lights of the World Week 10: Everlasting Storm

Photo by Fenando Flores at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Catatumbo_Lightning_-_Rayo_del_Catatumbo_(25217861751).jpg

The Fall 2017 Lights of the World Fitness Challenge encourages participants to be physically active an average of at least 20 minutes/day.

Week 10, starting October 29 and ending November 4, features the Everlasting Storm near the mouth of the Catatumbo River where it empties into Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela. This impressive sky filled light show occurs an average of 297 nights/year, sometimes lasting 10 hours/day with up to 280 strikes/hour, winning a world Guinness record for the area with the most lightening. The storms are most frequent from April to November, often peaking in September. Here's a slide show of mesmerizing photographs highlighting this storm of storms.

Because of its stunning visibility that occurs in the same area, this everlasting storm is sometimes called the Lighthouse of Maracaibo or "river of fire in the sky." The phenomenon occurs when heat and moisture from the Maracaibo Lake and surrounding swampy plains meet cooler air masses from the horseshoe-shaped Andes Mountains at this location. One group studying this Everlasting Storm used tethered balloons in order to predict storm activity months in advance. In 2010, the storm stopped from January to March, but true to its name, the storm resumed after a drought in the region ceased.

When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightenings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind ouf of his treasures. Jeremiah 10:13