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All Images Copyright Terry Pallister
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| In the early evening some heavy cumulus clouds drifted over me without developing until they moved on by. Suddenly the cell matured and lightning started striking quite often, something that had not happened in many weeks. I rushed out and set up on the east balcony just in time to catch several nice strikes just before and after dark. The first 3 were off to the ENE about 5 to 6 miles away between 8:02 and 8:06 pm. Lightning became less frequent and mostly flashes in the rain shield. The last shot above occurred just after darkness at 8:23 pm. |
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| A large cell developed and moved eastward rather fast for July. Rain was heavy in some areas, but lightning was very infrequent. I was fortunate to get one shot facing ENE from the east balcony. It occurred at 3:07 pm about 4 miles away. When I checked the tape I discovered the camcorder was acting up with messed up footage. I later cleaned it which seemed to work. |
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| Just before 1
pm I set up in front of the airport and shot for a few minutes at a developing
storm to the SE and S. The lightning was a little too far away and
blocked too much by the trees and overpass. The storm began developing
more toward the SW, so I decided to change my position and go to the other
side of the building and set up on the west balcony. I will always
wonder if this move was best. Even though I got quite a few really
nice shots, there was a lot more lightning just around the corner of the
building that I couldn't get. Still, I could not complain.
The shots above occurred between 1:20 and 2:00 pm. They ranged between 2.5 and 5 miles to the SW and WSW. This was one of the better storms of the summer. |
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| This storm developed just after 11 am toward the WSW from the airport. I was a little late getting set up, so I missed several nice strikes. The ones I was able to get occurred between 11:22 and 11:58 am and were between 3 and 4.5 miles away. |
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| The morning began with darkened skies choked with heavy clouds. Thunderstorms first moved northward off to my east and then developed to the N and NW well out into Lake Pontchartrain. These shots are facing NW. I had to zoom in as far as I could. Lightning was about 9 miles away. Only occasionally did a strike fall within my view. Most of them were multi-strikes on different frames. These occurred between 10:15 and 10:40 am. |
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| Dark clouds built up around 2 pm. Lightning began a little after 2:15. I thought luck would get me more shots, but that was not to be. The two that I did get were to the NW at 2:22 and 2:26 pm. The first one above was worth it all, a double just over a mile away. The other was 2.5 miles away. The storm moved off to the NNW and expanded quite a bit. A massive mammatus cloud formed and fed back over me for a long time after the main storm was almost out of view. |
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| Because the view
from the front of the airport is no longer very good since the overpass
was built in the fall of 1996, I decided to try something new and go to
the other end of the airfield where I can get a good line of sight for
storms off to the E and SE. It takes an extra 5 minutes or so to
drive there and get set up. This can cost me quite a few shots, as
it did here. Had I shot from the front of the airport I would not
have gotten much anyway, so it was worth it.
My direction of aim treated me to a nice view of Bally's Casino boat. The two strikes were to the SE about 4 to 5 miles away. |