Formation: A ring of cloud spreads ahead of approaching rain-cooled air.

I love photographing scenes that include dramatic weather and clouds and that often involves “storm chasing” or, as I prefer to refer to my activity, storm interception. I try and anticipate where interesting scenes will develop and be there when it happens. I’ve had some success.

Out There. This is what I saw when I arrived to intercept the approaching storm.

Springtime brings its share of weather drama, even in Northeastern Ohio. Thunderstorms can be powerful, even dangerous, and produce impressive sights as they balance heat, cold, and moisture.

The Road Ahead. The outflow quickly developed a shelf cloud as the storm approached.

On May 26, watching radar for coming opportunities, I spied an area of interest in the area between Wellington and Oberlin, Ohio, and so headed in that direction. As I approached Wellington, I could see I needed to head a bit north to meet the approaching storm head-on but it came on faster than I expected. In the LaGrange area I realized I needed to stop and set up right away! I wound up on a county road, facing west, as the storm developed outflow clouds, a shelf cloud formation, as I watched.

Overtaken. As the storm overtook my position, I turned my car around and ran with the storm. At one point I stopped and looked up.

Thunder rumbled in another storm to the north of me, in the Oberlin area, I saw but one flash — no lighting photography for me this day — the drama of the storm overhead was satisfying. The outflow quickly overtook me and I scurried back to my car, got inside as sprinkles fell, and then came torrential rain. It was a fine intercept.

A couple of “catch-up” images follow:

Daytime Strike. My first successful attempt at capturing lightning during the day (May 6) using a device known as Lightning Bug™️ leaves me hungry to find a storm where I can safely shoot scenes including lightning. The device senses a lightning flash before the human eye can register it and automatically triggers the camera shutter.

And while we’re at it, here’s yet another storm seen this month, a real beauty!

Gathering Storm. This, right here, is one example of why I like to intercept storms! This exciting storm was seen arriving on May 15, near Medina, Ohio.