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Lightning occurrence in the Arctic could double by 2100,
according to research
released this year. Although there’s a lot we don’t understand about flashes in
the Arctic, scientists believe that rising temperatures associated with climate
change could increase lightning in the region. These flashes, in turn, might
bring with them the possibility of more Arctic fires and a devastating rise in
carbon emissions.
Weather and environmental photographers have long reminded us of the power of
the natural world, but as we reckon with the realities of climate change, they
can also highlight the fragility of our planet. While curating this collection
of weather photographs on 500px, we were inspired by the photographers’ ability
to capture both astonishing beauty and urgent warnings, writ large across the
skies.
We still don’t know nearly enough about climate change and weather—the potential
link between tornados and climate change, for instance, remains murky and
unknown—but in the end, we believe that photographers have a critical role to
play in documenting our environment during an unprecedented time. By turns
spellbinding and terrifying, all of the pictures here take our breath away—and
some of them capture our world on the brink of irreversible change.
“Rotating supercell storms can have a very distinctive shape and are referred to
as ‘motherships’ in the storm community,” photographer
Derek Burdeny
explains. He captured this moment in Spearfish, on the border between Wyoming
and South Dakota.
In the case of supercells, the least common type of thunderstorms, you can
expect to see severe weather, including tornados, high winds, lightning, or
hail. They’re most often found in the Great Plains of the US, making the region
a hotspot for storm-chasers. Luckily, everyone in the town below this mothership
made it through the storm safely.
Rob Darby
regularly travels through the Western United States chasing storms across the
countryside; he found this supercell descending upon a cornfield close to
Sterling, Colorado.
When all was said and done, it produced multiple tornados and hail the size of
baseballs. Much of Rob’s work features manmade elements, such as farmhouses or
grain silos, to provide a sense of scale and context to nature’s fury.
“This energy came out of nothing west of Moose Jaw and started as a roll
cloud,”
Mark Duffy, a storm photographer from Saskatchewan, remembers. “It morphed into a shelf,
peaking around Pense, Saskatchewan. Incredible to witness.”
Sergio Tapiro Velasco
was born in Colima, not far from Mexico’s most active volcano. Since then, he
estimates he’s created more than 400,000 photographs of Volcán de Colima. He
calls this one, made in December 2015, his “once in a lifetime shot,” capturing
a breathtaking combination of lava, rock showers, ash, and lightning. That
month, he devoted 20 days to watching the volcano, sleeping in his truck some
nights and waiting for the right moment to arrive.
The photojournalist
Sergio Azenha
documented this wildfire in Pampilhosa da Serra, Portugal, in August of 2005, as
these people watched the flames threaten their homes. That year saw the worst
drought the country had experienced in years; the following weekend, the
Portuguese government requested help from the EU in battling the fires.
“Seeing the storms on the American plains is perhaps the most memorable
experience I have ever had in a life spent fascinated by weather,”
Marc Adamus
says. “In over 13,000 miles, I witnessed moments of breathtaking, primal,
awe-inspiring power I will never forget.” He photographed this cloudscape,
illuminated by lightning and the crescent moon, in Nebraska.
For
Marko Korošec, an extreme storm chaser, realizing this picture was a dream come true. “What
a remarkable sight for me—I always wanted to see a waterspout over the Adriatic
sea at night,” he says. “Finally got this scene: a massive lightning barrage in
front of an elephant trunk waterspout as seen from Novigrad, Croatia.” He caught
the moment in late August of 2018; autumn is usually the best time to find
waterspouts over the Mediterranean Sea.
Brandon Goforth
caught up with this tornado south of Campo, Colorado, close to the Oklahoma
border, on May 31, 2010, a day that would go down in storm chasing history. The
large tornado lasted for almost twenty minutes, drawing crowds of law
enforcement, emergency management, and storm chasers. Some who saw it have
described it as the “perfect tornado.”
Kelly DeLay
was just outside of Simla, Colorado, when he captured this tornado and a double
rainbow. The artist’s interest in weather started early in life; when he was in
seventh grade, he built a pinhole camera that he used to photograph lightning.
In Simla, the rainbows felt so close he could almost touch them. Before he knew
it, hail the size of golf balls was falling, refracting light from the rainbow.
Kathy Ritter
photographed the Tinder Fire in Arizona in 2018. The fire, caused by an
abandoned illegal campfire, was fueled by low humidity, high winds, and dry
vegetation. By May 6, just over a week after Kathy captured this photo, the fire
was 79% contained at 15,841 acres.
“In 2014, I took a trip to Dubai and witnessed one of the most incredible
moments in my life,”
Michael Shainblum
says. “This is a single exposure of lightning striking the tallest building in
the world, the Burj Khalifa.” Anticipating this moment, he waited for four hours
as the rain fell, hoping to capture a strike.
“For over 20 minutes, I sat on a highway near the town of Severy, Kansas,
shooting this mothership supercell,”
Jon Stone
wrote after capturing this moment. “I would have loved to capture a CG lightning
strike with this, but the storm only managed a few crawlers, as seen in this
picture. Still the best structure I’ve seen to date.”
Roger Hill
has seen and photographed more than 650 tornados, making him the Guinness Book
of World Records holder for the number of tornados witnessed. Beyond that, he’s
also seen thousands of thunderstorms and tens of thousands of lightning strikes.
“I loved shooting this tornado warned supercell in Broken Bow, Nebraska,” he
remembers. “It maintained this structure for over an hour. This was a
ground-to-cloud discharge!”
In 2014,
Alan Crosthwaite
documented the wildfires that hit the hills of San Marcos, California, in May.
That year, the fires were unusual for their speed and timing, as they arrived
months before the typical height of wildfire season. Cal State San Marcos was
evacuated, as the fire raged, fueled by high winds, low humidity, and record
heat.
“The colors in these severe storms are surreal,”
Robert Postma
says, looking back on this picture, made in Wanette, Oklahoma. “The blue is
caused by the light filtering down through hail that is smashing into each other
in the clouds. This colliding leads to the ‘hail roar,’ which sounds like
continuous thunder. Mesmerizing.”
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