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Scientific American

May 1, 2016

1 min read

The World's Top Lightning Hotspot Is Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela

Central Africa is the epicenter, but a South American lake ranks number one

By Mark Fischetti

SOURCE: “WHERE ARE THE LIGHTNING HOTSPOTS ON EARTH?” BY RACHEL I. ALBRECHT ET AL., IN BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY (IN PRESS); Graphic by Pitch Interactive

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Lightning flashes above Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela more than anywhere else on earth and does so for a stunning 297 days of the year. Second place goes to Kahuzi-Biéga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A new study of satellite data spanning 16 years shows that cloud-to-ground lightning and intracloud lightning occur most frequently over complex terrain—notably the foothills of rugged mountain regions, especially if a big, warm lake lies nearby (insets below). Ironically, the leading U.S. spot is not rugged, but a flat corner of the Everglades near Orangetree, Fla. Africa is home to the most hotspots—283 of the top 500—followed by Asia (with 87), South America, North America and Australia (colored dots on main map). Above land, thunderstorms are most prevalent during the afternoon; fewer form over the oceans, but they tend to flare up at night.

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SOURCE: “WHERE ARE THE LIGHTNING HOTSPOTS ON EARTH?” BY RACHEL I. ALBRECHT ET AL., IN BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY (IN PRESS); Graphic by Pitch Interactive

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Mark Fischetti has been a senior editor at Scientific American for 17 years and has covered sustainability issues, including climate, weather, environment, energy, food, water, biodiversity, population, and more. He assigns and edits feature articles, commentaries and news by journalists and scientists and also writes in those formats. He edits History, the magazine's department looking at science advances throughout time. He was founding managing editor of two spinoff magazines: Scientific American Mind and Scientific American Earth 3.0. His 2001 freelance article for the magazine, "Drowning New Orleans," predicted the widespread disaster that a storm like Hurricane Katrina would impose on the city. His video What Happens to Your Body after You Die?, has more than 12 million views on YouTube. Fischetti has written freelance articles for the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Smithsonian, Technology Review, Fast Company, and many others. He co-authored the book Weaving the Web with Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, which tells the real story of how the Web was created. He also co-authored The New Killer Diseases with microbiologist Elinor Levy. Fischetti is a former managing editor of IEEE Spectrum Magazine and of Family Business Magazine. He has a physics degree and has twice served as the Attaway Fellow in Civic Culture at Centenary College of Louisiana, which awarded him an honorary doctorate. In 2021 he received the American Geophysical Union's Robert C. Cowen Award for Sustained Achievement in Science Journalism, which celebrates a career of outstanding reporting on the Earth and space sciences. He has appeared on NBC's Meet the Press, CNN, the History Channel, NPR News and many news radio stations. Follow Fischetti on X (formerly Twitter) @markfischetti

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Scientific American Magazine Vol 314 Issue 5This article was originally published with the title “Lightning Hotspots” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 314 No. 5 (), p. 76
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0516-76
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