ash, rain, wind and lightning in Newcastle

[h0ughy]

well we had an interesting afternoon, rain, wind, smoke, thunder, lightning, more smoke , ash, muddy rain, you name it!! I feel for the fire fighters and the properties under threat with bush fires, and the animals too! Saw Scott this afternoon too, we took a few images the first 3 photos were taken just before 5pm, the others by 5.30-6pm

[iceman]

Sure was a weird day.. the southerly has come through finally, and it's now much nicer here at Gosford.. windows and doors are open, aircon is off!

Saw the most beautiful sunset on the way home from the hospital tonight, wish I had my camera. The clouds and smoke made for a very red sunset with some great crespicular rays shoooting upwards.

Nice pics Dave.

[jase]

Absolutely incredible Houghy. Amazing photos. I hope this wild weather settles.

[Astroman]

Nice shots David, love the lightning :P

[h0ughy]

Hospital????:shrug:

[Lee]

It was surreal.... 5pm was like 8pm - dark! the sun was crimson red through the smoke and sunset, and the clouds/smoke drifting past produced partial eclipse like crescents out of the sun.... felt like an alien planet.....

Houghy - how do you do your lightning shots? - aperture/speed etc - I've never been able to get a good balance between exposure time - too short and miss them all, too long and overexpose!

[h0ughy]

on the weather tonight they say hot conditions right through to Sunday, despite the southerly coming through now:sadeyes:

[h0ughy]

thanks andrew, i will become a storm chaser some day:P ;)

[h0ughy]

hand held or tripod mount(mine were all handheld) set focus to infinity, and exposure to program(auto), and the iso setting high, 400-1600. then point and shoot when you see the light. helps train your reaction time. oh and manually click onthe shutter. night shots are longer exposures on the tripod:thumbsup: manual setting of course:lol:

[Lee]

You must have the reflexes of a cat!

[h0ughy]

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :screwy: umm just lucky and many many hours of medal of honour and tour of duty

[mickoking]

Great shots h0ughy :thumbsup: I remember well the fantastic thunderstorms in that part of the world and sadly the bushfires too.

[h0ughy]

Thanks!:thumbsup:

[tornado33]

Hi all
Heres my pics of this rare weather event.
Not in my 42 years can I ever recall such darkness beginning round 4pm. At its peak it was so dark car headlights were throwing visible beams onto the roads and streetlights were coming on. Tripod was mandatory for my shots.

After it began to clear from the west I got the Sun thru the 6 inch f3.6 Cometracker and no solar filter either!

The smell of the smoke was overpowering.

The light rain that fell had ash in it, making a kind of mud that was VERY hard to wash off even with detergent. Tonight the radio reported a big lineup of cars at local carwashes as drivers sought to clean their cars.

Finally, to add more excitement, an hour ago, while outside with the folks chatting, I saw a MASSIVE green glow lighting up the NE sky, somthing really big blew, the lights went out then came back on after a good 3 seconds, about 10 seconds later a very loud sizzle crackle sound was heard, so whatever it was was a long way off.

What a wierd few weeks of weather. First, hail bigger then golf balls, then a "polar outbreak" bringing snow to the Barrington tops, just a few hours from here, now hot spring temperatures with a rare very dense smoke event. Gee whats next, a volcano?, a tsunami? those are about the only 2 things Newcastle hasnt had.... yet.
Note, nearby Jesmond and parts of Wallsend was hit by a tornado when I was little, it totalled some places at jesmond.
Scott

[spacezebra]

Great pics David

If you go storm chasing can I come too:D!!!

Cheers Petra

[h0ughy]

OK Mr Tripod man:P :D here you are in full swing, oh and I found another lightning shot;)

[h0ughy]

classic alan Meehan and I took the same lightning bolt , alan from maryland and me from wallsend :rofl: :thumbsup:

[iceman]

haha classic! Great shots.

[xelasnave]

Strange conditions provide excellent photo opportunities.
I guess you missed the four horsemen one would think they could be riding around in all of this.
Great lightening shots they would had to be the hardest photos to get I have spent hours with many systems to capture lightening and for me I do not find they come easliy
alex

[RB]

Awesome shots "Lightning Dave" !
Sure was wierd weather mate.

Did you get any of your shots on the TV news?

[h0ughy]

no they had their own coverage of that, although I did send it in!