And you’ll probably get a lot of thunder as well, which is also cool but hard to photograph.
For anyone who loves thunderstorms, a common issue is that the action can be a bit inconsistent. It might be too many miles away, or sheet lightning instead of forked. Or sometimes it just doesn’t happen like the weatherperson said.
A once-in-a-lifetime idea for those who like extreme weather is to go to where the storms happen the most. The easiest is Darwin, Australia:
Darwin
Darwin is at the very top of Australia, in the middle. It is a long way from major Australian cities – Bali (1769 km) and Papua New Guinea (1419 km) are much closer than Brisbane (2860 km).
Darwin has a reputation of being a bit Wild West, a place where outcasts turn up. Not surprisingly (given the topic) it is very humid and the people there tend to walk about in slow motion, sapped of energy.
Because it is in the tropics, Darwin experiences a wet season (summer) and a dry season (winter). But it is southern hemisphere so summer is around Christmas.
The wet season is wet. Towns up that way get cut off due to floods and it is so normal it never makes the national news.
Thunderstorms… depending on where you get your stats and how you judge them, Darwin can be 4th best in the world, but easy to get to and near other cool stuff.
Over Christmas Day in the Darwin region, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said more than 91,000 strikes were recorded. ABC
While you are there, crocodiles are pretty cool, as are the aspects of Aboriginal life and history. And there is some spectacular scenery.
Other Considerations:
Catatumbo River, Venezuela – has the world record. Between November and April, there are between 18 to 60 lightning strikes (on average) every single minute. And lightning happens 300 nights per year. It is also a worthy destination otherwise, where you might see snakes, dolphins, monkeys, jaguars and the abundant butterflies. However, it is a remote, wild, jungle destination – not easy at all.
Note: activity might not be great during El Niño.
Kifuka, Democratic Republic of Congo – officially second. Or first, depending on how wide a radius you measure things by. If you have other reasons to visit this part of the world, like seeing gorillas, great, but this village is still very remote.
Teresina, Brazil – comes third. At least it is a substantial city of almost a million people, although otherwise unremarkable and a connection or two too far. But yeah, if you were in Brazil for some other reason…
Central Florida – between Tampa and Orlando – given that Florida has so many other things to offer, it is my second pick after Darwin. It is also clearly accessible. July is the peak.
Johannesburg, South Africa – like most places listed here, they make more sense if you can combine them with some other mission. Visit in summer.
Singapore – experiences 168 thunderstorm days per year. And without doubt is easy to get to. The action happens during the inter-monsoon months of April / May and October / November. You’ll want to find a good vantage point, or be on top of a skyscraper holding a metal rod and yelling “strike me now!”.