Fuego: Volcanic Lightning Crackles During Mountain Tour in Guatemala

An extremely rare video shows volcanic lightning bolts crackling from Guatemala's Fuego volcano.

Chino Aventuras, a mountain tour guide, recorded the footage while leading a group of 15 people up the active stratovolcano Fuego. These volcanoes have a conical shape created by layers of volcanic material accumulated during eruptions.

Aventuras captured the surroundings of the volcano on camera for her video. The volcano is emitting ash from its crater as the camera pans to it. The tour guide can be heard gasping as bright lightning strikes can be seen coming from the summit of the mountain.

An intense rumbling is audible coming from the volcano after the lightning strikes.

Aventuras told Newsweek that volcanic ash and the electric storm that developed on top of the volcano contributed to the lightning. Although Aventuras has witnessed numerous lightning eruptions, she asserts that this was the largest she has ever witnessed in her ten years of guiding on the Fuego volcano.

Fuego in Guatemala

Among the most active volcanoes in the area, Fuego has been erupting recurrently since January 2002. It is one of the biggest in Central America, rising 12,362 feet above sea level. When it is not actively erupting, the volcano that towers over Antigua typically emits tiny plumes of ash and gas every 15 to 20 minutes.

The most recent eruption of Fuego occurred in December 2022, and it started with sparse explosions and high ash clouds shooting above the mountain. More than 1,600 feet above the crater, lava was flowing.

According to the National Institute of Seismology, Volcanology, Meteorology, and Hydrology in Guatemala, the volcano experienced two to eight explosions per hour between January 4 and January 10, and ash plumes rose more than 1.2 kilometers above the crater rim.

Locals refer to Fuego as "the Volcano of Fire," and its eruptions have the potential to be fatal. Due to its propensity for highly explosive eruptions, it poses a particular threat to residents.

In June 2018, the volcano had a particularly dangerous eruption. Communities were covered in ash from pyroclastic flows, which also harmed the quality of the air and water. 200 people perished as a result of these eruptions.

Volcanic Lighting

Over the past 200 years, there have been about 200 eruptions where volcanic lightning has been observed. It's challenging to photograph the phenomenon because it only lasts for a fraction of a second.

When different fragmented particles cross paths, generating static electricity within the ash plume, volcanic lightning results. Lightning results from the release of this buildup in the atmosphere, Newsweek reports.

According to a 2019 study published in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, the use of volcanic lightning as a research and monitoring tool to analyze explosive eruptions holds a lot of promise. Since lightning-produced radio signals can travel thousands of kilometers at the speed of light, their main advantages are rapid and remote detection.

Alexa Van Eaton, a US Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory volcanologist and study author, said that, conversely, lightning detection is quick and effective through haze or complete darkness at distances of hundreds of miles. Additionally, unlike sound, light does not have path effects, making it a useful tool for volcano monitoring, National Geographic reported in 2018.