Monsoon Weather Over Pioneer Valley
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I spent several days in Pioneer Valley, northeast of Flagstaff, Arizona photographing the summer thunderstorms associated with the monsoon weather. Warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico moved into the area on Thursday, July 19.
I shot exposures at five second intervals to assemble a time lapse movie. At night the exposures were four seconds long to capture the flashes of lightning.
This display is assembled from still frames of that movie.
I reprocessed the lightning sequences from my Monsoon Weather Over Flagstaff video to improve the visibility of the lightning.
6:53 AM: The morning of July 19 was overcast.
8:00 AM: Blue sky began to show through the clouds.
6:45 AM: Stratus clouds remain from the night before.
7:45 AM: Solar heating dissipates the stratus clouds.
9:02 AM: Cumulus clouds begin to form over the San Francisco Peaks.
10:04 AM: Cumulus clouds build up as stratus clouds drift across the sky.
11:36 AM: A large cumulus cloud builds on the far side of the San Francisco Peaks.
11:45 AM: Small cumulus clouds begin to develop downwind of the Old Caves Cinder Cone.
12:58 PM: A cumulus cloud builds above the Old Caves Cinder Cone as cloud activity increases across the area.
2:25 PM: The sky is overcast.
2:43 PM: A rainshower obscures part of the Eldon Hills
2:58 PM: The rainshower drifts behind the Old Caves Cinder Cone.
3:26 PM: The rainshower moves on, revealing the Eldon Hills.
4:07 PM: The sky remains overcast.
8:45 AM: Mid-altitude stratus clouds and high altitude stratus formed from moisture that was pumped high in the troposhpere by thunderstorm activity dissipate under the morning sun..
10:01 AM: Cumulus clouds begin to form over the San Francisco Peaks.
10:07 AM: A Cumulus cloud begins to form over the Old Caves Cinder Cone.
10:16 AM: High-altitude lenticular clouds form above rising cumulus clouds. Moisture in air that is moving sideways at high altitude condenses as the sir rises over the updrafts. The moisture evaporates again as the air descends after passing over the updrafts.
11:34 AM: Cumulus activity spreads across the area.
11:43 AM: Cumulus clouds drift across the area.
12:53 AM: Cumulus clouds drift across the area.
1:54 PM: The sky is nearly overcast.
2:03 PM: Blue sky appears through holes in the overcast.
8:14 PM: After sunset, a rainshower approaches from the East.
8:17 PM: Lightning illumiates the falling rain under a cumulonimbus cell.
8:22 PM: The storm spawned large cloud-to ground lightning bolts.
8:24 PM: Lightning.
8:27 PM: Lightning.
8:28 PM: Lightning.
8:30 PM: Lightning.
8:39 PM: Lightning.
8:24-8:57 PM: Composite image of lightning strikes was assembled from ten exposures made from 8:24 to 8:57 PM.
Lightning Over Pioneer Valley, Arizona on July 21, 2012: You can buy this photo as prints as large as 16" x 24".
8:24-8:57 PM: Grayscale version of the image above.Composite image of lightning strikes was assembled from ten exposures made from 8:24 to 8:57 PM.
10:40 AM: Cumulus clouds begin to form over the San Francisco Peaks.
12:04 PM:Scattered cumulus clouds drift across the area.
2:21 PM: Cumulus clouds approach from the Southeast.
3:27 PM: The top of a mature cumulonimbus cell drifts eastward as the lower altitude cumulus clouds drift to the northwest.
3:36 PM: A cumulonimbus cloud builds upward to the Stratosphere.
3:47 PM: The top of the cumulonimbus cell spreads laterally as it reaches the stratosphere. A cumulus cloud builds on the left side of the image.
4:20 PM: The cumulus cloud at left expands rapidly.
4:34 PM: Cumulus clouds approach from the Southeast.
5:48 PM: A large cumulonimbus builds in the distance to the northeast.
6:43 PM: A large cumulonimbus rises above the Navajo reservation to the east.
7:14 PM: Cumulus clouds build over the area in front of the cumulonimbus.
8:26 PM: The giant cumulonimbus cloud is the last thing to be illuminated by the sun.
9:50 AM: Cumulus clouds begin to form over the San Francisco Peaks.
10:04 AM: Cumulus activity spreads across the area.
10:06 AM: Cumulus clouds build as the air moves over the San Francisco Peaks and then dissipate as the air descends on the lee side of the mountains.
10:47 AM: Broken cumulus blanket the area.
11:25 AM: Broken cumulus blanket the area.
11:39 AM: Rain starts falling from the overcast sky.
12:15 PM: A rainshower arrives, dropping raindrops on the camera lens.
6:22 PM: Cumulus activity drops off for a while in the afternoon.
6:49 PM: A large cumulonimbus rises above the Navajo reservation to the east.
6:59 PM: Broken overcast at sunset.
7:06 PM: Low altitude cumulus clouds spread in front of the cumulonimbus cloud.
7:23 PM: The giant cumulonimbus cloud is the last thing to be illuminated by the sun.
7:48 PM: Orange sunlight, filtered by its passage through the atmosphere illuminates the bottom of the broken stratus.
7:51 PM: The sunlight fades.
7:53 PM: The sunlight fades.
7:55 PM: The end of the day.
9:39-9:52 PM: A massive cumulonimbus system flashes with lightning every few seconds for about an hour. Most of these images were assembled from multiple four-second exposures to create images of the entire system.
9:52-9:56 PM: Composite image of a giant cumulonimbus system.
9:57-10:09 PM: Composite image of a giant cumulonimbus system.
10:13-10:17 PM: Composite image of a giant cumulonimbus system.
10:18-10:21 PM: Composite image of a giant cumulonimbus system.
10:19 PM: A single four second exposure reveals nearly the entire cumulonimbus system lit up at once.
Lightning Over Flagstaff, Arizona on July 23, 2012: You can buy this photo as prints as large as 16" x 24".
10:19 PM: Grayscale version of the image above. A single four second exposure reveals nearly the entire cumulonimbus system lit up at once.
10:25-10:36 PM: Composite image of a giant cumulonimbus system.
10:28-10:36 PM: Composite image of a giant cumulonimbus system.
2:33 AM: An active thunderstorm rages over the plains to the north of the San Francisco Peaks. Another thunderstorm over the peaks flashes brightly every few minutes. Rain from the foreground thunderstorm obscures the storm in the background on the left side of the image. The lights of Flagstaff lend a slight red glow to the rain from the storm.
2:37 AM: Lightning over the plains to the north of the San Francisco Peaks.
2:45 AM: Lightning over the plains to the north of the San Francisco Peaks.
2:48 AM: Lightning over the San Francisco Peaks.
2:51 AM: Lightning over the plains to the north of the San Francisco Peaks.
2:52 AM: Lightning over the plains to the north of the San Francisco Peaks.
2:53 AM: Lightning over the plains to the north of the San Francisco Peaks.
2:53 AM: Lightning over the San Francisco Peaks.
2:56 AM: Lightning over the plains to the north of the San Francisco Peaks.
3:03 AM: Lightning over the plains to the north of the San Francisco Peaks.
3:04 AM: Lightning over the plains to the north of the San Francisco Peaks.
3:09 AM: Lightning over the plains to the north of the San Francisco Peaks.
3:17 AM: Lightning over the San Francisco Peaks.
3:19 AM: Lightning over the San Francisco Peaks.
3:26 AM: Lightning over the San Francisco Peaks.
3:32 AM: Lightning over the plains to the north of the San Francisco Peaks.
3:33 AM: Lightning over the San Francisco Peaks.
3:44 AM: Lightning over the plains to the north of the San Francisco Peaks.
3:46 AM: Lightning over the San Francisco Peaks.
3:51 AM: Lightning over the San Francisco Peaks.
3:55 AM: Lightning over the San Francisco Peaks.
3:57 AM: Lightning over the San Francisco Peaks.
3:33-3:57 AM: Old Caves Cinder Cone is silhouetted against rain from a storm over the San Francisco Peaks, which are silhouetted against other lightning storms in the distance. The peaks stand a mile above the surrounding plain and those clouds in the distance are eight miles tall. Composite of six exposures.
Lightning Over San Francisco Peaks, Arizona on July 24, 2012: You can buy this photo as prints as large as 16" x 24".
3:33-3:57 AM: Grayscale version of the image above.
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