Photo of the Week: Biscayne Bay Shelf Cloud


For this week's featured photo, I went into the archives and found a photo from my days as a graduate student at University of Miami. This photo was taken along the Rickenbacker Causeway which connects Virginia Key and Key Biscayne to the mainland in Miami. I do not recall much that was specific about this thunderstorm from September 19, 2012, just that it was very photogenic. There were a few "appendages" on the bottom of the shelf cloud, but they were most likely scud clouds and probably not funnel clouds.

Scattered to numerous thunderstorms occur on a near daily basis across South Florida from April through October. While they are rarely severe, they often produce abundant lightning and torrential rainfall. A few more photos of this thunderstorm can be found below.

The top of the storm casts shadows on the higher clouds as the sun sets in the west.

Note the sun setting behind the rain shaft.

Looking back towards the Rickenbacker Causeway and the mainland.

Another photo of the storm, taken once I got home to my 8th floor apartment in Coral Gables.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Photo of the Week: Milky Way Over Black Canyon

Image
For this week's installment of "Photo of the Week", I am featuring what is probably to date, my best Milky Way shot. This photo was taken last June from the South Rim Campground at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park , Montrose County, Colorado. The photo was taken using my Nikon D3300 DSLR equipped with a Tokina 11-18 mm wide-angle lens. I used a wide aperture (f/2.8), short focal length (11 mm), kicked the ISO up to 6400, and did a 20-second exposure. My advice to photographers attempting a similar shot: don't focus overly on what my settings were, or what someone else's were. While those settings may be a good starting point, some trial and error (and I mean, a lot of error) will be required. I think I initially started with a lower ISO, and kicked it up higher to really get the deep space objects in the shot. I should also point out that this photo was minimally post-processed, except for perhaps some slight adjustments to the exposure. Using Stell...
Read more

Photo of the Week: Independence Pass

Image
For my inaugural post on this new blog, I will kick off my "Photo of the Week" series with the cover photo to the new website. This photo was taken on the ascent up Independence Pass, Colorado in June 2019. State Highway 82 traverses Independence Pass, and is the second highest paved mountain pass in the U.S., reaching an elevation of 12,095 at the Continental Divide. Only Trail Ridge Road (U.S. Highway 34) in Rocky Mountain National Park is higher. Independence Pass connects Aspen on the west to Twin Lakes on the east. Several prominent high 14ers are visible from the pass including Mount Elbert (the highest point in Colorado at 14,440 feet) and La Plata Peak (14,361 feet). The highway typically opens to traffic the Thursday heading into Memorial Day Weekend, but opened late in 2019 after one of the snowiest winters in recent memory. Even in late June, snow was abundant above the treeline. Entering Independence Pass from Twin Lakes (east of the Continental Divide) ...
Read more

Tropical Storm Barry Strengthening over Northern Gulf of Mexico

Image
As of the 10 a.m. CDT advisory, Tropical Storm Barry has maximum sustained winds of 65 mph and minimum pressure of 998 mb. This represents an increase in winds of 15 mph, and a drop in pressure of 7 mb since this time yesterday. Manual surface analysis valid at 10 a.m. CDT Friday showing Tropical Storm Barry. The forecast has not changed that dramatically during the last 24 hours. The official forecast track continues to bring the center of Barry near the Louisiana coast in the vicinity of Morgan City on Saturday morning as a category one hurricane. After landfall, the center should track roughly along the U.S. 90 corridor, bringing it near or just east of Lafayette, then into Central Louisiana. Barry should weaken after making landfall. NHC Official Forecast Track issued at 10 a.m. CDT Friday. The main concern with Barry continues to be rainfall. The slow-moving nature of Barry, combined with already wet soil conditions and high rivers in South Louisiana will result in a v...
Read more