Double flash of lightning over the Painted Desert of northern Arizona.Lightning flash behind a volcanic cinder cone.
Shortly after these images were taken rain began to fall and I called it an evening. The drive back home was slow and difficult in the torrential downpour that was constantly interrupted by brilliant flashes of lightning. It was one of the most active nights of lightning in the Flagstaff area of the season. And it did rain hard! One automated raingage reported over 4 ½ inches in two hours.
The summer rainy season — known as the North American Monsoon — has begun across Arizona. Over the past week thunderstorm activity has increased substantially. Some locations have already received their average July rainfall in only a few days while other locations have had only a trace of rain. Flagstaff has been one of the wet places and has had a tremendous amount of rain, large hail, and lightning and there have been some good opportunities to catch lightning with a camera.
Cloud-to-ground lightning with the San Francisco Peaks in the distance.Lightning strikes behind the San Francisco Peaks.
The second image is a composite of two separate photographs taken a few minutes apart with slightly different lighting and cloud structure.
The North American Monsoon was going strong in late August and I decided to take a day trip up to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. My goal was to photograph lightning — both during the daytime and in the twilight hours — over and in the canyon.
I wasn’t disappointed. There were only a few thunderstorms around and that makes for better chances since there are fewer intervening storms and there is a better chance of catching some of the sky.
The first two images are of fairly weak thunderstorms producing only a few flashes as they traversed the canyon from south to north.
Early afternoon lightning over the Grand Canyon.Afternoon lightning over the Grand Canyon from Grandview Point.
Later in the evening there was thunderstorm activity over the Kaibab Plateau and the north rim. This image captures the small thunderstorm as well as the stars overhead and the lights of the North Rim buildings.
Evening lightning over the Grand Canyon from Grandview Point.
The last image was taken as the storms ended leaving only a thin layer of clouds with the stars shining brightly and the inner canyon illuminated by the light of the full moon.
Full moon light shining down into Grand Canyon.
A few notes of interest. While taking lightning photos using my lightning trigger, a group of four photographers showed up at the same viewpoint — all with the same lightning trigger. And later, during the twilight hours, another group of lightning photographers arrived at the same viewpoint. Turns out these were folks from News9.com (an Oklahoma City television station). It’s not clear to me how lightning over the Grand Canyon is part of the news team coverage for Oklahoma City.
A late afternoon storm lingers into the evening producing lightning over the Cathedral Rocks and the Cockscomb.
Late afternoon light and distant lightning at Cathedral Rock, Sedona, Arizona.Twilight lightning over west Sedona and the Cockscomb.Twilight lightning over west Sedona and the Cockscomb.
The North American Monsoon (NAM) got off to a slow start across northern Arizona this year despite a few predictions that it would start early and strong. It did in some locations but northern Arizona was not one of them. But after a few false starts, the rainy season is in full swing here. We’ve had a couple of days with substantial rainfall and that has — finally — put an end to the extreme fire danger.
Cloud-to-ground lightning from a distant thunderstorm at twilight.
And, with all the thunderstorms, comes another chance to photograph lightning. Yesterday (15 July 2012) turned out to be a very good day for lightning. By late afternoon, storms were weakening across northern Arizona but there remained a chance that there would be another round in the evening. And there was. At one point in time, I was observing lightning in all directions — none of it close however.
Thunderstorm lit from within by lightning during twilight hours.
I found myself in Wupatki National Monument during the evening. I stopped at one of the many pullouts along the road that afforded me a view in multiple directions and set up to photograph. Initially, the best storms were to my north but since they were moving to the north they eventually were too far away. At the same time, a cluster of storms was moving northward across central Arizona. I could see only the tops of these storms but they still managed to light up the sky. Because they did not fill the sky yet there were plenty of stars visible as well. I was happy with the results: bright stars overhead, distant thunderstorms lit from the inside by lightning, and wonderful colors and light reflecting off the clouds in all directions.
Stars shine overhead as a cluster of distant thunderstorms light up the far horizon.
It was amazingly quiet in the Monument. Only a few cars drove by at that time of the evening and the storms were distant so that the thunder was inaudible. It was so quiet I could hear the bats flitting around.
