Distant Thunderstorm Beauty

Last evening, around sunset, I saw a small, isolated distant thunderstorm off to the northwest of St. Albans, Vermont, where I took the pictures.

Thunderstorms are my favorite kind of weather, either when I'm getting blasted or watching one from a distance. This one has a classic thunderstorm shape. You see the big anvil top, the dark tower of the storm and a gush of rain coming from the bottom of it.

A small thunderstorm blossoms about 60
miles northwest of St. Albans last evening.

It's true I took the shots of the storm with a long lens, but it's amazing how a storm can be clearly visible even when it's far away, especially when there's not much haze, like last evening. I checked the weather radar and this storm was at least 60 miles northwest of me. It was southwest of Montreal, heading southward toward northwestern New York.

The shapes of the storm, especially along the bottom, kept changing as rain poured from parts of it and downdrafts rearranged the edges of the storm. As the sun set, the storm began to decay, having lost the energy of the sun that helped feed it.

A detail of the the distant thunderstorm
last evening

This morning, it's crystal clear outdoors, it's cooler and less humid, and there will be no thunderstorms today. That's OK. I'm not so sick that I just want thunderstorms.  I love nice weather, too.