The severe weather and storm opportunities this week really did not go how I had envisioned in the days leading up. I was beating my drum all week about a Thursday severe weather risk that never really panned out (not in the higher end way, anyway), and then slept through the overnight portion that I had hoped to get out and shoot some lightning photos during. I was already racking up some sleep debt this week so I couldn't just red eye it and stay up for the 2-4 AM arrival of the incoming storms so I went to bed and set an alarm for 12:30 AM.
The alarm went off and I woke up and saw the storms still a couple hours away and shut my eyes again. I woke up to a rumble of thunder a little after 4:00 AM, looked at radar and realized it was probably the final rumble of thunder as storms were moving out. Cool.
So now it's Friday, a couple of models have suggested maybe a couple of storms locally around sunset but I was in believe-it-when-I-see-it mode, mostly because it was a silly little setup without much focus to get things going.
I actually threw my cameras into the car around 7:30 PM on Friday evening just to shoot the sunset. Another round of wildfire smoke was punching in and I figured I'd hunt down a late-summer scene. I left a little late, poorly composed a sunset shot or two with the first soybean field I could find (can't see over the corn these days!), and noted a few distant towering cumulus! Maybe our late-evening did have some storm potential.
This wasn't one of those nights that I was in the mood to just sit out there and wait and see so I went back home (getting ice cream on the way) and rejoined Sophie at home for a lazy evening.
I made it until about 10 PM when a cluster of storms erupted near Peoria and Bloomington and began tracking toward Champaign-Urbana. I was really feeling tired and grumpy from a long week. A good week, but a long one. This felt like a chore in a way. Once I was in my car heading out to my spot the idea that I had a nice little sub-severe thunderstorm to enjoy on a warm summer evening settled over me and my mood shifted.
The bright moon and city lights from Champaign-Urbana lit up the incoming storms, especially with a 6 to 8 second long exposure on the camera. The early scene with the brightly lit storm and stars shining in the clear air beckoned for a bolt of lightning but the storm wasn't having it.
I did get a couple of bolts to play with, but I'll always be pretty critical of my lightning photography attempts. I'm a video first, photos second storm chaser - always have been and always will be. I love shooting photos, especially playing with long exposures at night. But, I do it so infrequently that when I'm facing a rapidly evolving sky situation I'm usually just doing my best to capture the essence of the scene. When lightning shows itself, 9 times out of 10 I'm letting in way too much light.
Either way - my first lightning photo of 2024!
The scene got goofier as I spotted a stringy little funnel cloud hanging beneath one of the first updrafts that floated overhead. I was just sitting there squinting through the darkness like... "that's definitely a smooth little funnel cloud, right?"
Photos confirm, little funnel! (remember, I'm shooting 6-8 second exposures and this funnel is really scooting by quickly, that's why it's so blurry)
Wonderful little scene that I'm glad I briefly abandoned my lazy Friday evening for. At this point in the year you never know when it's going to be the final time I get to spend a few moments with a storm out in the open before the quiet of winter settles in. Last year my final big storm observation of the year was on August 25th, in 2022 it was September 18th, in 2021 we were chasing tornado warned storms in Illinois in October. We'll see what this fall has lined up, but the near-term looks quiet.
コメント