Topic: NSW, QLD & VIC Storms (incl sunset storms at Lightning Ridge): 9 - 11 Jan 2009

[Shaun Galman]

Upper Western NSW Storm Report & Photos. January 11th 2009. Continued.

8:44pm
CG were still firing like crazy. There were a few good CA's about also which is always a nice treat! :D


Bit of a shame this CG blew out a bit in the middle? It happened to Russ also. Not a bad shot though. The anvil would have been forward shearing nicely by this point as we didn't see any anvil whatsoever behind it. It was also very slow moving.


Here's that weird blue glow in the upper layers/cap shown a bit more clearly. The sun behind us was masked by clouds most of the time (an orphan anvil from a distant cell I believe it was)

9pm
The colouring was stunning, even well after the sun had set. Still highly active also.


A nice chance to put the Canon through it's paces and try a Mike Hollingshead (extremeinstability.com) style photo showing stars, in this case the Orion constellation, Sirius, some of Taurus and a CG to boot! I have a tonne of shots from this storm. Many more than I could ever post but these are a few from each stage in time. It pushed out over Collarenerbri around 10pm so we called it a night. A storm I won't soon forget that's for sure!

Cheers and take care,
Shauno

[Michael Bath]

Wow - another sunset treat for Lightning Ridge!  Beautiful shots of the structure and lightning - can just imagine being there and enjoying the scene with a LOT of excitement at the amount of lightning

I've seen that sort of top of the storm colouring previously - I guess it's to do with the last part of sunset then twilight and the viewing angle.

Thanks for sharing

Michael

[Shaun Galman]

Hi Michael,
Cheers! Yeah definitely one for the storm memories Russ remarked that he's never shaken so bad due to the adrenalin rush and excitement of seeing this form over town! I have to admit I was pretty happy to see it also. lol

Certainly a strange phenomenon having the tops illuminated like that. I guess it's not too often you get to see them from this angle unless you are chasing out in the countryside.

I'm just keeping an eye outside currently as there is a bit of action dipping down over the border due to the feeding cloud from the cyclone's system.

Shaun, that is a nice structure cell and although I cannot verify LP supercell without radar or timelapse etc, I can say that visually it has supercell characteristics. The lapse rates today were impressive as the upper trough progressed across central NSW.

Take note of the base of the cell (photographs 2 and 6 below) which has a suspect base as well but not the impressive characteristics as show in the photograph you posted.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

Hi Jimmy,
Thanks for your comments. I said to Russ that it was a shame he didn't catch it during it's building phase? Possibly show small timelapse of rotation etc. in a few photos? But as you say definitely looks supercellular at a glance. It was only short-lived according to Russ (maybe given to the fact that there were several other weaker HP cells in close proximity to it?)

Take care,
Shauno

[Jason(pato)]

Bloody awesome stuff Shauno. Looks like you've got the hang of the new camera, theres some rip snorters in that collection. Been contemplating getting a wide angle lens like the 10-20mm sigma for a while..........you might've just swayed me (time to save up them dollars). Keep up the great work!

Cheers Jason

[Richary]

Excellent shots Shaun. What settings were you using for the one with the stars visible? Might have to try that if out country photographing sometime.

And possibly consider a wide angle lens!

Dave - I have a power substation one block behind me and that sounded around the area that the strike hit, so it may have tripped our local area. First prolonged blackout I have noted since moving in here.

We've had the odd few second one before but that's all.

Richard

[Shaun Galman]

Hi Jason(pato),
Thank you for the kind words! I couldn't recommend the Sigma EX Highly enough now, particularly for this type of large, very close/overhead storm situation. It has the focal range on the lens itself which eliminates that whole- trying to find infinity focus issue. I would imagine you NE Rivers guys would get great use out of it on those monster supercells!

Richary: Thanks also, much appreciated! I was all over the shop with my settings due to the sun setting, moon rising and cloud cover but the best star inclusive photos (ie; the last photo I posted) would have been f/7.1, ISO400 @ 25seconds. Didn't need noise reduction whatsoever. The photos are pretty much as-is straight out of the camera. A decent lens really helps a lot too.

Kindest regards,
Shauno

[Harley Pearman]

I did not do a significant chase but certainly captured some anvil crawler lightning over Blacktown. I was watching a large storm cell approach western Sydney from William Lawson Park at Prospect. The storm was not very active to begin with. Once over western Sydney the cell became more lightning active and enough to capture some photos. Most lightning was anvil crawler and these are my first photos of anvil crawler lightning using my new camera.

Rainfall totals include 7 mm at Seven Hills, 4.5 mm at Toongabbie, 4 mm at Northmead and 2.5 mm at Kings Langely. Penrith had a good fall of 8.4 mm as well. Other totals across Sydney were much lighter. There was a new storm peak around Seven Hills and amazingly, I found myself under it at one stage when driving around. Rain was quite heavy in the core but no hail or wind.

The photos I took were first filmed using my new 10.1 Megapixel digital camera and I have cut the pictures from the film taken.

Harley Pearman

[Antonio (stormboy)]

some nice shots there harley i wish that we had some storms but no luck in the new year
nice job

[Richary]

Thanks Shauno

Next camping trip - storms or not, will experiment with star photography to get a feel for it. That last shot of yours worked out really well, as did most of the others.

Now if only Sydney would produce some storms close enough to dusk to play with long exposures!

Richard

[Mike]

10/10 Shauno!  Ripper CG photos and the one in the second series with that big strike is to die for.  Great series of photos showing maturity and eventual big strikes, thanks for sharing - you must be stoked after such a drought!

[Andrej Matko]

Shaun, amazing shots! I love the third one from 1st post, for colours and bolt, and second one from the 2nd post - you can see really nicely how it jumps out of the storm horizontaly and then cruves down to the earth! Breathtaking stuff!

[vrondes]

Shaun,

Very dramatic captures of a breathtaking event. The colours are just magic. The 3rd shot in the 1st set echoes of the work of Peter Jarver, and the shot with the constellation of Orion with the receding storm is a superb image. Yes, the 10-20 Sigma is a nice piece of glass, mine hasn't been initiated like yours has with that storm. That's a moment in time you won't forget, Well done, Cheers, Con.

[David C]

They are all great shots Shaun, and esp the '3-d' bolt -- you could produce a calendar from that one evening alone!

[Shaun Galman]

Hi guys,
I can't express how much those great comments mean to me! I'm just glad I could do such a great storm a little justice in the photos I would have loved to have had a HD DVcamera on board to timelapse the lifecycle evolution and caught a few more of those CG/CA's that went astray.

Richary: I hope you get a chance to see a great sunset lit or evening storm soon Richard, it's great fun to experiment with! Best of luck and please post a few star trails in the astronomy section if you get the chance!

Mike: Cheers! I think it's one of my many stand-out fav's for the evening also

Andrej Matko:Thanks very much! We rarely get sunset lit or backlit storms out here so to have two come through in the last few weeks has been a real treat. This is only my third sunset storm in 5years of photographing them out here.

vrondes: Thanks a lot Con! I haven't heard of Peter Jarver before but I will do a little searching and see what I can find of his work. I hope you get the chance to use the 10-20mm soon, a large highly active HP supercell with a huge RFB meso area would be the ideal test for it I reckon!
David C: Thanks for the kind comments! I had easily filled two 4GIG cards with the RAW photos (around 460 images) That's a first for me as usually I'll only take 80-100 shots maximum? Russ was pushing a bit over 1000shots with his Olympus! I think it was definitely worth it though. Don't see slow moving storms build overhead at sunset too often I plan on printing a few of the ones posted here at 20x30 inches, just to do them justice.

Kindest regards and take care,
Shauno

[nordspot]

Hi@ all down under
Amazing photos Shaun, the right place, the right time and the right equipment,wow! Thanks for sharing with us. Interesting in that series of pics are the updrafts which remain strong from beginning to end, lots of energy there...

Greetings from a freezing Germany

Ralph