After a late-afternoon swim in LakeMaracaibo to cool off from the sweltering heat, we got our first glimpse of towering clouds amid the glow of the setting sun.
Meteorologists have yet to definitively explain why Catatumbo produces the most persistent electrical storms on the planet, but the most widely accepted theory is that trade winds from the Caribbean blow warm air over brackish LakeMaracaibo before hitting cool air from the Andes.