Catatumbo lightning

[2] It originates from a mass of storm clouds at an altitude of more than 1 km (0.6 mi), and occurs for 140 to 160 nights a year, nine hours per day, and with lightning flashes from 16 to 40 times per minute.

The heat and moisture collected across the plains create electrical charges and, as the air masses are destabilized by the mountain ridges, result in thunderstorm activity.

The study also showed that the forecast accuracy is significantly higher when an index based on a combination of winds and convective available potential energy (CAPE) is used.

[20] There are several references by colonial Portuguese and Spanish sources, that name this phenomenon as "Lanterns of Saint Anthony" or the "Lighthouse of Maracaibo", as also noted by Alexander Walker in 1822.

[22] Italian geographer Agustin Codazzi described it in 1841 as "like a continuous lightning, and its position such that, located almost on the meridian of the mouth of the lake, it directs the navigators as a lighthouse.

[24] Some authors have misinterpreted a reference to a glow in the night sky in Lope de Vega's description in his epic, "La Dragontea" of the attack against San Juan de Puerto Rico by Sir Francis Drake as an early literary allusion to the lightning (since in another verse the poet does mention Maracaibo), but it was actually a reference to the glow produced by burning ships during the battle.