2. Weather

North American Monsoon

Spectacular lightning, dust storms, monsoons, flash flooding...Arizona has it all. At the end of July in 2008 I headed off to the scorching deserts of Arizona for the Extreme Heat project. I witnessed the unique and massive movement of moisture flowing into the desert landscape, the North American Monsoon, resulting in intense flash flooding, huge electrical thunderstorms, incredible haboobs (fast moving dust storms) combined with extreme temperatures. With the Grand Canyon and Death Valley a stone’s throw distance away I was within one of the hottest spots on earth. So hot you can make instant sun tea and hot water comes out of both taps! I captured every minute of this incredible cyclic phenomenon. However, all did no go to plan. After a few days moisture flow was cut off from an early season hurricane and I had to adopt plan B. This took me to Florida in search of waterspouts and thunderstorms. I returned to Arizona for the last few days of the project for some stunning lightning displays too. A true adventure.
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    Whilst hunting waterspouts in Florida we nearly got lucky with this storm. It became a severe thunderstorm just before making landfall and could have quite easily dropped a spout. It never, but looked quite impressive against a water foreground. I came across a crop of rocks, just offshore, which helped me frame and compose the shot. Olympus E3, 12-60mm SWD - F5.6, 1/100s
    Whilst hunting waterspouts in Florida we nearly got lucky with this storm. It became a severe thunderstorm just before making landfall and could have quite easily dropped a spout. It never, but looked quite impressive against a water foreground. I came across a crop of rocks, just offshore, which helped me frame and compose the shot.
    Monsoon downpours were intense, unleashing one foot of rain in an hour. The Arizona landscape was a perfect backdrop for images. The nature of the land was also conducive to major flash flooding. Timing and positioning were crucial to get shots like this. The intensity and crispness of the precip shaft is what I was after here. Minutes later flash floods would have stranded us, if we had stayed put.