Lightning - 23rd September 2010

[markt]

Whilst at work this afternoon there was a brief thunderstorm and rainbow to pleasantly distract me from what I was supposed to be doing.  Earlier on this evening was merrily sat at the laptop clicking away when a 'flash' outside caught my eye.  Looking through the window I could see a completely blue sky and so just dismissed said flash.  A few more flashes later I decided it was finally time to get off my backside and investigate.

A HUGE cell was slowly passing by west to east, just to the north of me.  It was a really black cloud with quite alot of cloud to cloud lightning flashing a very eerie pinky purple throughout the cell.  Little or no thunder coupled with the twilight sky made it very surreal.  There were people out on the streets locally just stood looking up, wondering what was going on.  I have to admit that for a while I stood there myself mouth open just taking in the spectacle.

Pulling myself away from the scene I dashed inside for the camera and tripod.  Now not really doing any lightning photography before I decided to try for as long an exposure as possible, so dropped the ISO down to 100, stuck the lens on f11 which was giving me 4 seconds.  With remote control I just stood there clicking, as one exposure finished I took another.   However I was amazed at the number of flashes that managed to happen inbetween exposures!

This is my favourite pic of the evening, I think there's some mamatus visible.  Either way it was one of those natural spectacles that kept me good for an hour or so.



Hope you like it!

Mark

[Big Dipper]

That's a superb shot Mark. You've brought out the dramatic mood of the moment beautifully.

I've been reading quite a few posts on various forums this evening from people who have been treated to thunderstorms today Alas, once again, I've missed out completely! 

[martinastro]

Mark, wow, that's a beauty of an image, an I-c bolt and mammatus with great colours, you done everything perfectly, congratulations on a stunner!. I saw images of possibly that same cell with lightning on other forums, there where crazy storms in England today, actually phenomenal with some saying they were the best in years. Sorry I didn't post the forecast up for today, I get burnt out sometimes however I'm sure those interested have checked the usual sources anyway. The sferics charts over Britain looked amazing, it must have been the best storm day this year.

Great storms over N. Ireland too on Wed, even a few night storms. A very good two days of weather action. I hope we get more soon. Mark - you are a natural storm photographer - stick at it 

[martinastro]

These images were taken by Chris Loyd during twilight...

http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=39137&posts=13

[markt]

Thanks Martin & BD!  It was a great sight to watch, one of the best storms i've seen in a while certainly.  Thanks for the UKWW link to it aswell Martin, wolverhampton is about 9miles north of me as the crow flies, in the direction of the street lamp, so to see it from worcester, some 25 miles south of my location just gives an indication of how big these cells are.  I hope to snap more storms, however for today the wind has shifted to a chilly northerly - brrr!

[martinastro]

Here's more images of that storm Mark..

http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=39147&posts=7

It must have been a beast, the thunder from it shook houses.

[JohnC]

Lol.Mark- I really chuckled re. your description,sitting there - one flash- blue sky, some more, still at the laptop-I thought 'is he waiting for one to hit the house ? lol.

That's where the Cg's were, it seems so you were in the right place . Most lightning occurs between exposures lol - just after either the timer's run out and closed the shutter and before you can re-activate it or just after you let the shutter close on bulb - either way that's the game it plays with us lol. That's a very atmospheric shot and despite people saying it's easy to shoot lightning, when you're starting out it's not and you got it .

It certainly was a great day all round. I'll see what I've got myself, just going through them.

[martinastro]

Here are videos of that amazing storm. I am insanely jealous, what a perfect photo opp in twilight with active lightning and amazing structure on the solid anvil...





Check out this c-g which set off car alarms...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/monkiphotos/5017816836/#

[martinastro]

The BBC are now showing video of this...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/herefordandworcester/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_9030000/9030691.stm

Another stunner...

[Danny Power]

This images and videos are amazing

[JohnC]

Amazing footage -the last one could be in the US  with the clear skies either side of the cell.

[markt]

Some fantastic additions to this thread Martin!

Lets hope for more extreme weather like this