Fantastic show from Mother Nature!

[Buffalo]

Well, what's a boy to do when thunderstorms, lightning, tornado warnings and torrential rain ruins his hiking plans? Why, get in a car and drive out into it of course and hope he's not picked up by a tornado and thrown into Vermont.
Here's some shots of the storms from this weekend: clouds over Jefferson, the Grand View after the storm, a pic of Little Cherry Pond and finally a quick jaunt up Bald Mtn. in the thick of a storm.
A couple shots are below, you can check out the whole album if you like at the links below.
I know this isn't hiking related exactly, but if you enjoy extreme weather as much as I do, it was a great weekend to be outside.

http://cdn-2-service.phanfare.com/i..._Web_2/0_0_e867c182859d4f256cb2ad07528319cd_1
http://cdn-2-service.phanfare.com/i..._Web_2/0_0_6cd40db39b168817167bd60f3412cbf5_1
http://cdn-2-service.phanfare.com/i..._Web_3/0_0_d2eba767a3377061a3bf639f030347c2_1
http://cdn-2-service.phanfare.com/i..._Web_3/0_0_27eca6c8e5b707885802320de146279d_1

 

[MichaelJ]

Very nice!

What am I seeing in the fourth photo? Those streaks, I mean?

 

[Buffalo]

Thanks Michael!
We struggled over that for a bit as well. A bunch of photos show those little streaks. I think what happened was that in order to keep the camera dry I put a hood over the top. That also darkened the lens, so the flash automatically popped up. My guess is that those streaks are close by raindrops illuminated by the flash. It looks as though they are streaking upward but I think it's just the illusion of the camera capturing downward motion.
Either that or mountain fairies. Not sure which.

 

[BoulderBum]

A tornado actually did hit Maine this past week...

http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/145169.html

 

[MichaelJ]

I was thinking raindrops as well but the upward direction was what threw me off.

Unless ... are you shooting with a dSLR? Do you know if you have first or second-curtain sync with the internal flash?

 

[cooperhill]

Great pictures. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Grumpy]

I especially like the rainbow shot (#2), which is very dramatic in every respect.

The white streaks in photo #4 almost certainly are some kind of precipitation in the air.

Nice job. Thanks for sharing.

G.

 

[Buffalo]

Thanks Cooper and Grumpy

Boulder - Yeah, NPR just did a little story on the tornado in Maine.

Michael - I do own a DSLR and after reading your note, I did a little research. This is from an online guide to Cannon EOS. This sure sounds like what happened:

The first curtain sync problem.
As noted in the section on X-sync, Canon EOS cameras (and basically all SLRs) have two moving “curtains” in the shutter mechanism. The first curtain opens the shutter and the second curtain closes it.
Let’s say you take a flash photo of a static object combined with a long shutter speed. Normally the shutter opens, the flash fires, time passes and then the shutter closes. Now let’s say you’re taking a photo of a moving object. The object is illuminated enough to leave light trails recorded on the film or sensor as the object moves along. But if you fire the flash immediately after the shutter opens then you’ve got a bit of a problem, since the light trails will appear to be moving in front of the flash-illuminated object. The object will actually sort of look like it’s moving backwards.

 

[w7xman]

They just confirmed the tornado that we missed in Gorham. Sitting in Mr. Pizza, two meteorogists missed it...there's a word for that!

http://www.wmur.com/weather/23813233/detail.html

 

[dentonfabrics]

Great pix, it looks like we have another excellent photographer on VFTT. I was going to ask the same question as MichaelJ did about #4 - awesome shot, thanks for posting!

bob

 

[Buffalo]

Thanks Bob!
So, yeah I saw that MUR report and that cell that I shot may actually have been the tornado cell. My pics were taken around 4pm at the airport in Whitefield, looking north over Jefferson. The storm was moving east so it may be the one that eventually touched down in Gorham.
Here's two more shots that look like there's a small funnel being formed.

 

[Drumhaggart]

Outstanding shots!

#3 belongs on a poster; perhaps with an inspirational message underneath:

“There is a serene and settled majesty to woodland scenery that enters into the soul and delights and elevates it, and fills it with noble inclinations.”
-Washington Irving

-Steve

 

[Buffalo]

Excellent, choice! Thanks Steve!
Wonder if there's an equally inspiring quote out there about mosquitos?!?!?

 

[forestgnome]

Excellent images! Thanks!