A photogenic shelf cloud accompanying a line of non-severe thunderstorms moves into Peoria, IL
On August 28th, I once again found myself photographing some convection once I got off work after 6:00pm. On this late-evening some non-severe thunderstorms organized into a nice "bow" feature on radar near Galesburg, IL. I watched these storms from my apartment waiting for the shelf cloud accompanying these thunderstorms to become visible along the horizon. Once I noticed this storm would provide a few photo opportunities I headed out the door with my camera in hand in Peoria, IL. The atmosphere was unstable with 2,000J/kg of CAPE, 0-6km shear at 25kts once again, and a moist boundary-layer with dew points near 70°F. This shelf cloud was very well-defined, but it had more "bark" than "bite" yet it provided a few good photos on an otherwise boring evening. Once the storm passed some back-lit sunlight filtered in during golden-hour creating a nice double rainbow in the eastern skies at sunset. It was another nice surprise to find another photogenic storm locally to photograph. I've added a few more photos from this particular evening below:
A mean looking shelf cloud moving-in!
Thank god, I found a bean field!
I normally hate powerlines in photos, but I thought this was a very interesting shot!
I'm chasing on foot at this point just before the wall of rain overtakes my position...
The rainbow that many saw in the Peoria-area on this evening!
What a difference a few days make as I shot at this same location with a storm in the distance a few days prior, but on this particular evening there's a rainbow...
It was another unexpected and fun evening of photography! Hopefully, we get some more interesting weather locally to photograph as summer slowly comes to an end as we head into fall. We shall see...
