Here's two of my favorites. Although they are not lightning shots I was particularly pleased capturing these storms. The sounding for the morning that day showed good shear and CAPE. By 5pm there was a severe storm warning in a 60km radius to Darwin City. I flew down to the wharf and watched this massive storm move in from the south into Darwin. Little CG activity until the storm got more organized (understatement!) but this storm packed 90kmh winds! As the storm approached the harbour the gust front was blowing up the usually flat seas and boats were getting pounded by both wind and wave. The CG lightning certainly was awesome, albeit I had to take cover in the car due to the rain that came with it. The shelf formation held for a good 20 minutes and was very photogenic. I watched some poor soul in a small fishing vessel being pushed at a phenomenal rate of knots out of the harbour, I don't think he had much control of his craft on the way out - he was being literally blown out into the bay.
The other shot is of a wall cloud that was off to my right - I didn't even notice it until between shots glanced across and saw the condensation forming underneath - I was pretty wrapped as I'd never seen a wall cloud in my chasing to date. No-one else on the wharf area was taking shots got this storm, everyone was too interested in the large shelf to the left - I only managed one shot before the downpour and wind arrived just afterwards.
We had several large storms in the area that night and it was great to have a choice of where to point and shoot and not having to actually chase them - both storms were in the Darwin wharf area. Very memorable for me anyway.
Mike
