Forked CGs fly outside a core with another strike inside heavy rain, as seen from the lunch-room window of the former location of the National Hurricane Center. I had just gotten off an evening shift and hadn’t yet left the building when a storm over the bay started sparking furiously. This is one reason I always try to bring the camera. [One of the few disadvantages to the new NHC location is that shots like these are no longer possible.] Florida is truly Lightning Capital, USA — producing more lightning strikes and hosting more lightning deaths than anywhere else in the nation. Lightning photography is harder here, though, than in drier places with fewer thunderstorms, such as Arizona or the Great Plains. This is because of the lower cloud bases and dense rain cores in most Florida thunderstorms, as well as obstructions to views from trees and buildings. Here, being six floors up with an open window certainly helped.
Coral Gables FL (12 Jul 92) Looking SSE
25.7131, -80.2774