Radar showed developing thunderstorms beginning about mid-afternoon N and NW of Lake Pontchartrain.  They were drifting and expanding toward the south as time went on.  Some were very large and intense.  At first I thought they might miss me completely.  By 4:30 pm some were on the west end of Lake Pontchartrain, about 45 miles away.  It was very hazy outside and I couldn't see anything that even looked like a thunderstorm cell off in the distance.  By 5 pm the overall sky appearance seemed darker, as if night were beginning to fall, but I still couldn't see any storms.

About 5:20 I set up on the west balcony and waited.  Skies were darker with sections of the sky looking very dark, but no real cloud definition showing.  At 5:30 I began to get my first lightning with Camcorder 2 facing NW toward the lake and south shore edge.  I estimate that the strikes were about 7 miles away, but there was no thunder to tell how far away they were.  As the minutes passed I eased the camcorder more to the left toward UNO.  The main action was even more to the left toward the SW.  I used Camcorder 1 to shoot in that direction as seen in Gallery V-21.

The 2 strikes on the top row are from the same strike sequence, as are the 3 on each of the 2nd and 3rd rows above.  On the 3rd row you can clearly see that the top part of the bolts are the same, but the lower part of each bolt hit a different point on the ground.

As the minutes passed the hazy skies off to the N and NE were darkening.  Lightning began a little after 6 pm in this direction out over Lake Pontchartrain, so I began shooting at this new cell development as seen in Gallery V-22.