In September of 2025, my work is generating the most income it ever has in my career. Yet, I'm being forced to shut down my successul operation, against my will, due to one cause alone: 95% of that revenue is being stolen by piracy and copyright infringement. I've lost more than $1 million to copyright infringement in the last 15 years, and it's finally brought an end to my professional storm chasing operation. Do not be misled by the lies of infringers, anti-copyright activists and organized piracy cartels. This page is a detailed, evidenced account of my battle I had to undertake to just barely stay in business, and eventually could not overcome. It's a problem faced by all of my colleagues and most other creators in the field.
This storm was probably the most impressive one of the day visible from Charleston. I shot these images from my front porch of this cumulonimbus over Sutton, WV, about 50 miles to the northeast. I anticipated the formation of the pileus cap and was able to get a full sequence of its development and 'punch through'. Lightning was occasionally flickering out of the side of this storm, but it was too sporadic and too bright outside to try and capture any of it. As darkness fell, the storm weakened and disappeared behind low clouds that moved in from the west. In the last image, a jetliner passes in front of the storm (click each image for a larger version).
When a growing cumulonimbus cloud surges upward, it pushes through the upper layers of the atmosphere with great force. Occasionally there will be one or more thin layers of moisture in the upper atmosphere that, when forced upward by the rising updraft from a growing storm, will cool and condense into a 'cap' cloud directly above the top of the cumulonimbus. This formation is called a pileus cloud, and can often be seen in the early stages of a developing storm.
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From Dan: Please Read
To my regular readers, I offer my apologies for this heavy-handed notice. Unfortunately it has become necessary, so please bear with me!
Please don't copy/upload this site's content to social media or other web sites. Those copies have been a critical problem for me, seriously harming this site and my photography/storm chasing operation by diverting traffic, viewers, engagement and income. "Credit" and "exposure" does not benefit this site or my operation, rather they threaten my ability to cover my operating expenses. Please read my full explanation for this notice here.
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