man & nature # 14 ~ what a ride

After the storm • click to embiggenOver the past few days I have used the phrase "hot and humid" in a couple entry titles because, well, it's been very hot and humid - part of the stifling heat wave that has enveloped the east coast of the US of A.

Well, it all came to a screeching, crashing, thunderous halt yesterday - literally. A cold front entered the region around noon bringing severe thunderstorms with nearly continuous lightning, torrential downpours, golf ball sized hail, and 80 mph winds. The front came in 2 -3 waves, lasting until around 8PM last evening. Downed trees and electric wires, power and communication outages all over the place - many still continuing this AM.

After it was all over and I was enjoying a very refreshingly cool breeze in the gloaming, nature reared its head with a dazzling display of light and color. So, at precisely 8:33:16 PM & 8:36:46 PM (EXIF data), I pictured these two scenes.

My only disappointment was the fact that I was not able to capture the occasional streak lightning that was going on as a backdrop to the rainbow (right between the rainbow arch) - something I had never seen before.

FYI, the color in these pictures is straight from the camera (via RAW) and very accurate, although, I do admit to moving the H&S slider 10 points to the desaturate end of things.