Hot and under pump from the full force of dangerous lightning! This post and these photos are dedicated to our late friend Malcolm Sparrow. ~ Jeff and Sara ~ After chasing storms all afternoon we had decided to grab a meal and recharge as storm activity had ceased, there were however other storms heading our way. After a meal we had decided to call it a night and all head home as the storms had fizzled and become a rainy mess... 15 mins later we ( me n Sara ) doubled back due to a fresh storm developing along the line. We headed to Grandchester and saw many bolts on the way, once we arrived and were in close but good distance I jumped out of the car with my camera. Sara stayed in the car as I crouched down beside it thus making me lower than my surroundings to eliminate the risks of being struck. After a few mins I said to Sara that would be typical we arrived in good position and the bolts stop as it began to rain lightly. I got back in the car and quickly noticed a very dark storm base directly overhead. This location now posed a heightened risk of very close proximity lightning bolts at any point in time due to the maturing storm overhead. Its an observation and tool I use from experience heavily while storm chasing to identify whats going on above and around me... I mentioned this immediately to Sara that we were in the zone, at risk of close lightning strikes so I aimed the camera out of the window free hand towards the dark base overhead. 5 mins went by and nothing, my finger and hands were getting sore from holding the camera still and pushing the shutter release button so i lowered it down for a rest. FLASH BOOM!!!! Followed by OMG that was very close ( estimate 250 meters away ) which blinded and deafened us for a short time. Sara was in fear and didnt feel comfortable at this location so I explained to her about the Faraday Cage protection the car offered from lightning strike ( google it ). I continued to shoot from the open window of the car with a number of close proximate bolts coming down around us but none in frame. It was seriously bright and deafening as gun shot flangs went off around us. See on the image where the whole sky is bright but you cant see the bolt??? It came down about 100 meters away just to the left of frame... it was so bright and so loud it burnt our retinas and rocked the car. Insert a term here for a few friends (FMCFL) lol. More bolts came down further away which we captured in frame :) The storm weakened and moved away so we called it a night and headed home and Sara could finally breath again. I am pushing this warning and safety msg out... Storm Chasing is DANGEROUS, there are many hazards which need to be identified and constantly accessed during a chase. I with experience from chasing all my life mentally access multiple aspects of the sky and my surroundings during a chase. Some of these include where power lines and trees are (falling risk), radar and sky for intensity ( Damaging winds Large Hail ), Cloud distance and overhead activity ( lightning strikes ), Road conditions time of day / night and many other variables in an attempt to lesson the risks of my hobby and interest for not just myself but for those who my be with me. Thanks for reading this if you if you manged to get all the way through lol hope you enjoyed sharing our experience and the photos :)
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 09:53:54 +0000