Canie: Thanks for responding.

If you are not sure about the lightning in the active areas, can you check? Is there any way to check this? It has always seemed strange to me that we don't get lightning here even when it does rain, which isn't often. Taichung, Taiwan is much more active than Taipei, where it rains frequently. Of course I don't know about the lightning in Taipei though or suggest that it is related, just that it could be.

The fact that you mentioned the word desert in your post suggests that it may also be a place with little or infrequent rains. If it has not been studied, it might at least be worth looking into. Wasn't the flat world theory upheld by the authority at the time? They probably had a hard time getting over that one.