The Stormiest Places on Earth
Posted on May 6, 2012
The U.S. gets 3/4 of the world's tornadoes and the most violent tornadoes in the world, but it is not home to the stormiest regions. A NASA satellite identified the world's most intense thunderstorms in 2006. They occur occur east of the Andes Mountains in Argentina.
The strongest storms were found to occur east of the Andes Mountains in Argentina, where warm, humid air often collides with cooler, drier air, similar to storms that form east of the Rockies in the United States. Surprisingly, some semi-arid regions have powerful storms, including the southern fringes of the Sahara, northern Australia, and parts of the Indian subcontinent. In contrast, rainy areas such as western Amazonia and Southeast Asia experience frequent storms, but relatively few are severe. Northern Pakistan, Bangladesh, and parts of Central Africa also experience intense thunderstorms.
As far as thunderstorm frequency goes, Lakeland, Florida has the most thunderstorms per year in the U.S. with an average of 130 thunderstorms per year. Kampala, Uganda averages 242 thunderstorm days per year. If you pull up the local forecast for Kampala, thunderstorms are usually in it. Bunia, DR Congo is a close second with 228 days with thunderstorms per year.
A more recent study found that Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo gets the most lightning strikes on the ground. Maracaibo is hit by 233 lightning flashes per kilometer every year. Take a look:
Photo: C. Clark/NOAA Photo Library, NOAA Central Library; OAR/ERL/National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL)