2012-03-25 19:00:58 2012-03-25 19:00:58. troposphere. Prior to this, only hurricanes had damage figures in the billions. Who is the longest reigning WWE Champion of all time? Lightning can strike people and buildings and is very dangerous. Asia comes in second with 87 sites, followed by South America with 67, North America with 53 and Oceania bringing up the rear with 10. Thunderstorms happen in every state, and every thunderstorm has lightning. Some of the most severe occur when a single thunderstorm affects one location for an extended time. Kabare, Democratic Republic of Congo: 205.313. D. rarely last more than an hour. Thunderstorms affect small areas when compared with hurricanes and winter storms. Here is the breakdown of the top ten hotspots, ranked and listed by average lightning flashes per square kilometer (roughly 247 acres) per year. Thunderstorms typically produce heavy rain for a brief period, anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. Lightning occurs in thunderstorms when cold air and warm air interact. A total of five since 2006. Melissa Breyer is Treehugger’s editorial director. Caceres, Colombia: 172.295. "We can now observe lightning flash rate density in very fine detail on a global scale," says Richard Blakeslee, LIS project scientist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. More than 75% of all tornadoes in the world take place in “Tornado Alley,” an area that spans eight states in the Central U.S. Central Europe and Asia average 20 to 60 thunderstorm days per year. Precipitation area is two five miles in diameter." Although Lake Maracaibo takes the cake for flashes, as a continent Africa remains the one with the most lightning hotspots – it plays host to six of the world's top ten sites for lightning activity. In fact, during its life cycle a hurricane can expend as much energy as 10,000 nuclear bombs! Top Answer. Called the greatest storm on Earth, a hurricane is capable of annihilating coastal areas with sustained winds of 155 mph or higher and intense areas of rainfall and a storm surge. What is the conflict of the story of sinigang? El Tarra, Colombia: 138.618. We’ve written about this playground for Zeus before, and how could any other spot top it? Why don't libraries smell like bookstores? Depending on the conditions present in the atmosphere, each of these three stages take an average of 30 minutes. In the United States, the greatest number of thunderstorms are seen in Lakeland, Florida. B. Tornadoes: A. always rotate clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. Is evaporated milk the same thing as condensed milk? Thunderstorms happen in every state and every thunderstorm has lightning. Wiki User Answered . A. is greatest at the Equator. All Rights Reserved. At any given time approximately 2,000 thunderstorms are occurring on Earth. This region has just the right conditions for thunderstorms to form: cool, dry air from the Arctic mixing with warm, humid air from the Gulf of … Thunderstorms occur throughout the world, even in the polar regions, with the greatest frequency in tropical rainforest areas, where they may occur nearly daily. The length of time that particular water molecules stay in a part of the water cycle is quite variable, but water does stay in certain places longer than others. There are three ingredients that must be present for a thunderstorm to occur. Fulgurites: When Lightning Strikes Sand, Magic Is Formed, The Most Extreme Bolts of Lightning Strike in Winter, Epic Lightning Bolt Strikes America's Tallest Skyscraper, Obama's National Monuments Are a Big Deal, Fractal Scarring: The Amazing Mark Left Behind on a Lightning Strike Survivor, News Flash: 200-Mile Lightning Sets World Record. C. is a function of latitude. 1. So legendary is this place of wild sky that sailors once used it for help in navigation; the storms are variously known as Catatumbo lightning, the Never-Ending Storm, or the Lighthouse of Catatumbo. What is plot of the story Sinigang by Marby Villaceran? She is a sustainability expert and author whose work has been published by the New York Times and National Geographic, among others. 875,720 strikes per year with an average of 18.4 per square mile. Few things in nature can compare to the destructive force of a hurricane. Inter state form of sales tax income tax? We didn’t need NASA to tell us that Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo, pictured above, wins the prize for being the place on the planet riddled with the most lightning. Sometimes the thunderstorms that produce the heavy rainfall may happen well upstream from the impacted area, making it harder to recognize a dangerous situation.