My first storm photos

[DVC Jen]

Some of you may remember my mentioning that DH and I are storm spotters (working with the National Weather Service) for Dallas County. Yesterday we had our first activation of the year. Since it was late afternoon, I grabbed my camera just to play around and see what I could get.

I had my Canon 35-128mm IS lens on - so I played with shutter speed a bit hoping to get some shots of lightening but totally NOT expecting to (the storm really wasn't too bad by the time it got to us) - but I DID!

The photos are not anything more than snapshots - no composition, not very sharp due to the long shutter speeds and being hand held - but I was/am so excited about getting anything in the way of lightening I had to share.

This is the storm coming in

I was expecting some good hail with the color of the sky, but we didn't get any out of it - others did though.

These are the storm just as it starts to intensify in front of us.

Loved the clouds in this one.

is that a "sun spot" that goes over the utility pole? That made me say hmm wonder where THAT came from.

And the lightening.... plus some unintented motion blur from the traffic

 

[tinksdad]

Those are cool! Some of the best shots you can get of landscapes are before or after a big storm.

I like those lighting strike shots, to bad the electrical company "stuff's" in the way!!

 

[DVC Jen]

Those are cool! Some of the best shots you can get of landscapes are before or after a big storm.

I like those lighting strike shots, to bad the electrical company "stuff's" in the way!!

I know - that and the road DEstruction stuff.

Some day I hope to get some across an open field, but since we for the most part have to stay in town to report what is happening and decide if we need to activate the tornado sirens it probably won't happen when we are activated.

 

[spoon2003]

Cool shots...
Wow you're getting lots of practice this week

Sue

 

[Dismom+two]

OH cool!! I love those pictures!! I especially like the lightening!!

 

[jann1033]

nice shots..we had our first thunder storm of the season last night but don't think i got one shot..it was that cloud lightening, only saw one bolt( naturally before i set up camera) today it's back to snow so i'll be waiting longer to try the lightening again

 

[Virgo10]

Awesome photos!! I love weather. I think the cloud in your photo is called a roll cloud. We get them here too.

Any time you get pictures during your storm chases, be sure to post them.

 

[Sparkled]

Very Cool shots!

 

[photo_chick]

Great shots. My dad was a meteorologist for 30 years, so I love good storm photos. I could never be a storm spotter though, I'm deathly afraid of lightning.

I followed the edge of that storm from my house in Grand Prairie to DH's work. It hit me right as I got there. He works in Campbell Center. It is off N. Central Expwy at Northwest Highway. There were some wicked looking green clouds going on. There were times I wished I could pull over and take pictures, but alas we were trying to beat the storm to DH's work.

BTW... after it passed I had to wade through knee deep water to get into my car.

 

[ColleenS]

Great shots. The sky color is beautiful(& scary!). The lightening looks good too.

Also, what an interesting job you have.

 

[DVC Jen]

Great shots. The sky color is beautiful(& scary!). The lightening looks good too.

Also, what an interesting job you have.

It is interesting - but it isn't a paying job - we are volunteers. DH is a ham radio operator and the rules are you can not use a ham radio for any type of profit.

He is the one who is really into it. The national weather service likes spotters to go out as teams - one to spot and one to drive. It is much safer that way.

So I have gone and taken the training classes with him. He drives and reports back using the ham radio - and I spot.

It is a lot of fun - unless it is 2am when that pager goes off. Not so fun then.

 

[AndrewWG]

is that a "sun spot" that goes over the utility pole? That made me say hmm wonder where THAT came from.

Is that a sunspot, or could it be a developing ball lightning that never fully developed? I've never seen ball lightning so I don't know much about it, just a thought.

Andy