Sun and Storm: Charleston, WV - June 14, 2002 - 8:15 PM
You don't always need lightning to get a great show from a storm. This breathtaking double rainbow developed in Charleston's eastern sky on the heels of a few weak post-frontal thunderstorms that had just passed over the city a few minutes prior.
You could see this rainbow coming if you were slogging your way through traffic on I-64 in the height of the storm's downpour. The sky behind the cells was clearing fast, and the sun was getting ready to break through at any second. With the rain still coming down at a good rate, a strong rainbow was imminent. I parked on Greenbrier Street and waited for it, and a few minutes later it quickly materialized as a wave of heavier rain moved across.
The display was too big to fit inside one or even two camera frames, so the panoramic photos below (digital composites of five separate frames) were neccessary to get the whole event into one picture. The secondary bow is faintly visible above the primary. (Click on photos to enlarge)
In the third photo at right, one end of the rainbow touches down along the south banks of the Kanawha River. The last photo at right, post-thunderstorm fog begins to fill in the valleys outside downtown Charleston as the sunset silhuettes a line of developing rain showers in the distant western sky.
Camera: Fuji Finepix 4700 Digital, 2400x1800 resolution. |
