Winners of the Weather Photographer of the Year Contest Celebrate the Beauty of Nature

“Perfect Storm” by Craig Boehm (Canada). Finalist.
“Craig has been chasing and photographing storms for the last nine years. Out of all those years and images, this storm was the most photogenic of them all. It matched his mental image of a perfect prairie storm, hence the name of his photo.
The supercell captured here carried a tornado warning for some time, but it never produced one. However, it did drop baseball-sized hail to the north of Craig’s location, causing significant damage to areas in its path.
A supercell is a powerful thunderstorm with a deep rotating updraught (called a mesocyclone), capable of producing tornadoes, large hail, damaging wind gusts, and torrential rain. In addition to the usual ingredients required to develop a thunderstorm – instability, moisture and a lifting mechanism – supercells need strong vertical wind shear. This is a change in wind speed and direction with height, which allows the mesocyclone to form. As much power as these storms have, Craig finds it very calming to be sitting in front of one watching it approach.”