This is my first time doing one of these. I actually got out of the office enough at the right times to capture some pretty neat weather scenes. Disclaimer: I am about the farthest thing from a professional photographer. Many of these images have more personal value than artistic value. Also, some of these are multiple pictures of the same feature. No, I do not consider that to be cheating.
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22 April: Tornadic supercell ascending the Sand Mountain plateau as viewed from Ider, AL.
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20 October: Sunset panorama viewed from Bowers Rd. in eastern Limestone County, AL.
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21 August: Towering cumulus clouds looking west from the Canton, KY, near the Land between the Lakes at sunset after the total solar eclipse.
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10 August: Cumulonimbus anvil with mammatus partially obscured by stratus before sunset in Madison, AL.
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8 December: A cold but beautiful sunset viewed atop SWIRLL in Huntsville, AL.
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31 March: Sunset viewed from Weathington Park in Section, AL, at the northwestern edge of the Sand Mountain plateau.
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26 October: A clear, wide-open dusk along Airport Rd., just outside of Pryor Field in Decatur, AL, the evening before my written qualifying exam began.
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21 August: Looking west at towering cumulus from Canton, KY, during totality of the solar eclipse
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17 June: Looking NW at a wall cloud and RFD shelf cloud associated with a large HP supercell near Loraine, IL. (Note: to view each full-size image, pause the slideshow, right-click, and choose “View Image”.)
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21 July: I got really lucky to see this. The day after I drove home to start my vacation, I noticed a supercell developing about 40 miles from my parents’ house right after dinner. My mom and I made the split-second decision to go after it as it developed W of Clifton, IL. Our reward was a visually stunning classic supercell, with a funnel cloud that came very close to becoming a tornado (it may have briefly been in contact with the ground between pictures). Not bad for my first non-research chase in over 5 years and my mom’s first chase.
All in all, 2017 was probably my best year for weather pictures since 2012. Hopefully, I can continue this run of luck into 2018.
Dr. Anthony W. "Tony" Lyza 