New Guinness record: Area of Venezuela struck with 3,600 lightning bolts per hour

[unhappycamper]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/29/new-guinness-record-area-of-venezuela-struck-with-3600-lightning-bolts-per-hour/



New Guinness record: Area of Venezuela struck with 3,600 lightning bolts per hour
By Agence France-Presse
Wednesday, January 29, 2014 12:26 EST

It turns out there is a Guinness record for the place with the most lightning, and an area of Venezuela with 3,600 flashes of it per hour has won.

The certification was handed over Tuesday by Guinness Book of World Records representative Johanna Hessling.

The natural phenomenon in the western state of Zulia is called the Catatumbo Lightning, which generates myriad electrical storms from April to November at the mouth of the River Catatumbo, at the southern end of Lake Maracaibo.

The numbers of lightning bolts are indeed staggering: an estimated 18 to 60 per minute, up to 3,600 per hour and 1.2 million a year, with each flash packing enough juice to light up 100 million light bulbs, according to the Agencia Venezolana de Noticias.

[BadgerKid]

2. .

Oops, turn off the perception filter first!

[Vashta Nerada]

3. Ooooh, is there a rift in the Time Vortex at the mouth of the river?