Only good fortune and a well-timed opening of the camera shutter allowed me to capture this bizarre juxtaposition of bright ground light, spooky dark sky and strange cloud formations of an approaching severe storm. Yes, this is a nighttime photo. During the exposure, faint lightning within the storm silhouetted the cloud features throughout. Meanwhile, a brilliant eruption of lightning high overhead, in the anvil, brightened the ground as if it were daylight, and cast a front-glow off the same storm structures. This scene struck me as surreal and otherworldly even in the couple of seconds I saw it live, but looks especially strange when frozen in time in photographic form. We would let what became known as the “Liberty’s Crown Storm” move almost overhead before taking refuge in town.
3 W Pampa TX (20 Jun 8) Looking N
35.5339, -101.026Eerie Stormscape
Only good fortune and a well-timed opening of the camera shutter allowed me to capture this bizarre juxtaposition of bright ground light, spooky dark sky and strange cloud formations of an approaching severe storm. Yes, this is a nighttime photo. During the exposure, faint lightning within the storm silhouetted the cloud features throughout. Meanwhile, a brilliant eruption of lightning high overhead, in the anvil, brightened the ground as if it were daylight, and cast a front-glow off the same storm structures. This scene struck me as surreal and otherworldly even in the couple of seconds I saw it live, but looks especially strange when frozen in time in photographic form. We would let what became known as the “Liberty’s Crown Storm” move almost overhead before taking refuge in town.
3 W Pampa TX (20 Jun 8) Looking N
35.5339, -101.026