We experienced lots of lightning Wednesday and lasted into Thursday morning...If we were visiting an area over the mouth of the Catatumbo River in Venezuela, there would be no shortage of lightning strikes.  Cloud to cloud lightning occurs for nearly 160 nights a year for close to ten hours at a pace of 280 times per hour. The “Relampago de Cataumbo” only occurs where the river empties into Lake Maracaibo and the flashes are believed to be the world’s single largest lightning example.  Explanations for the phenomena include the amount of methane produced from local swamps to oil deposits, bedrock uranium and winds that collide against the high mountain ridges of the Andes. Similar to South Louisiana, heat and moisture collection creates electrical charges promoting lightning activity. We are familiar with Raising Cane's and  another note of interest. When temperatures rise, an amphibian’s oxygen transport system is strained, often leading to oxygen starvation.  Scientific studies have verified that fish and cold-blooded species suffer from rising global temperatures but the Cane Toad of Australia will not be in that group.  Researchers at the University of Sydney determined that rising temperatures meet with the approval of these toads and they actually thrive in the face of increasing heat. Cane Toads were tested in temperatures above 100 degrees F and were found to quickly acclimate to the heat and actually showed preferences for the increased temperatures.  The Society for Experimental Biology reports that the rising temperatures will increase the Cane Toad populations much to the dismay of the Cane Beetle. Cane Toads were introduced as a pest-control against the beetle.