03/04/2020
So this morning I caught 🌩
Today March 4th I was able to catch the lightning storm that blew in around 6am!! I knew the storm this morning was expected to arrive early this morning, so I set my alarm for 430. As soon as I got up I checked the radar, and could see the storm had a slight split between two cells. It looked like the southern cell was headed right towards Austin, so I decided that was the cell I was going to try to capture.
As I was headed south from my location, I noticed the cell was starting to drift northeast over Austin, and it looked like it was headed straight towards Lake Travis. I made a decision to head towards Lake Travis and sure enough the storm moved directly over the lake.
I was able to find an advantage point looking over the lake near the Oasis that had me pointing right at the storm as it rolled in.
As the storm moved in you could just feel the intensity building up. A light rain started and gradually increased. The weird thing is, that as the most powerful part of the storm hit the lake the rain died down and all of a sudden lightning was striking everywhere. The lightning was so close and so intense you could see it and feel it all at the same time. When it strikes it is so bright it’s like starring into the sun, and in that split moment you are torn between the amazement of Mother Nature and the thought of “this was a very bad idea”. When the leading edge of cell moves past you all of sudden hear this loud rumbling, and a gust of wind hits you immediately followed by a wall of water. The moment was so intense, and was well worth waking up for. This is definitely Mother Nature at its strongest and most beautiful all at the same time.
