IMPRESSIVE LIGHTNING OBSERVED OVER LAKE MARACAIBO, VENEZUELA! (credit: Jonas Piontek Photography via Severe Weather Europe)

DISCUSSION: As strong thunderstorms erupted much earlier yesterday morning over parts of Venezuela, some very impressive lightning striks unfolded with some of the more intense storms.  As captured in the beautiful image below, this was just one classic example of a cloud-to-ground lightning strike directly over Lake Maracaibo located in Northwestern Venezuela!  Being as though lightning is one of the number one killers among the various dangers from thunderstorms anywhere in the world.  For more neat content on high-impact weather content from across Central and South America, be sure to click here!