Eco-briefs
VENEZUELA: Drought Hurts Tourism Marvels

CARACAS, Mar 15 (Tierramérica).- The Catatumbo lightning, an electrical storm that produces 1.6 million bolts each year in northwest Venezuela, disappeared in January as a result of the intense drought that the country continues to suffer.

The Catatumbo lightning, an electrical storm that produces 1.6 million bolts each year in northwest Venezuela, disappeared in January as a result of the intense drought that the country continues to suffer.

"This is unprecedented in the history of the lightning storm. We have never had such a long period without lightning," Erik Quiroga, who for decades has researched the phenomenon over the Catatumbo River delta in Lake Maracaibo.

In the southeastern region of Guayana, Angel Falls - the world's highest waterfall at nearly one kilometer - has seen the water volume shrink by more than two thirds.

The intense and prolonged dry season, associated with the cyclic climate phenomenon known as El Niño, has led to water and electricity shortages and rationing in Caracas and other Venezuelan cities.

El Niño occurs when the warmer surface water temperatures of the equatorial Pacific flow to the east, reaching the South American coast, causing weather abnormalities throughout the Americas.