Peter Forister Photography

09/05/2026

Sunset over Charlottesville, VA this evening. 🌤

A mammatus-filled sky. Best of the year for sure

09/01/2026

Explore Fall (and a bunch of my photos!) are front page on the Washington Post this morning!!

Be sure to check out the article, and also check out ExploreFall .com for all the features that we've been working hard on.

For those who don't know, I'm a part of the Explore Fall team. It's a years-long project that is absolutely a passion and love for us. It's a TON of fun to share the maps and forecast with all the fellow fall lovers and pull together a bunch of never before done ideas. Please check it out!

We're front page of the Washington Post this morning! Excited to reach an expanding audience now that September is here!! 🍁

First colors are JUST around the corner. If you're new, welcome! Check out ExploreFall .com for the full suite of features that we offer for your travel needs.

09/01/2026

HAPPY SEPTEMBER!!

Now that we're in the 'ber months, it's time for fall! The start of colors is JUST around the corner. 🍁🍂

08/28/2026

Lunar eclipse through the storm clouds 🌒

Shot last night in Amherst, Virginia.

08/25/2026

Bright dawn rocket launch over Charlottesville this morning. ✨🚀

The SpaceX rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida this morning and flew up the Eastern Seaboard. The brightness is from sunlight reflecting off the exhaust gasses from the rocket engines. It was a nice view in the clear morning skies! ✨✨

08/17/2026

"Whale's mouth" storm clouds over Charlottesville this evening. ⚡⛈

Just as the outflow gust front passed, it showed off this epic view under the storm base!

08/16/2026

Severe thunderstorm coming into Charlottesville with a beautiful whales mouth cloud formation! ⛈️⛈️

Quite the stormy week here

08/16/2026

The National Weather Service has confirmed 90mph winds in Charlottesville from the incredible storm Friday ⛈️⛈️

Microbursts like this are considered destructive straight-line winds that can create tornado-like damage in areas. Several homes showed structural damage.

My photos here are from Darden Towe Park, one of the areas surveyed.

Full text of the survey report here:
Charlottesville, VA Thunderstorm Wind Event...

Peak Wind /E/: 90 mph
Path Length /statute/: 2.4 miles
Path Width /maximum/: 1.4 miles
Fatalities: 0
Injuries: 0

Start Date: Aug 14, 2026
Start Time: 5:33 PM EDT
Start Location: Greenbrier Community / Charlottesville / VA
Start Lat/Lon: 38.065 / -78.481

End Date: Aug 14, 2026
End Time: 5:42 PM EDT
End Location: Darden Towe Park / Charlottesville / VA
End Lat/Lon: 38.041 / -78.448

Survey Summary:
On the evening of August 14th, 2026, a powerful thunderstorm began
to develop over southeastern Rockingham County out of a cluster of
otherwise innocuous showers. The storm would rapidly intensify into
a powerful supercell thunderstorm before reaching the Blue Ridge. As
the storm crossed into northwestern Albermarle county, particularly
around Free Union, the storm would go through a period of weakening
as it approached Charlottesville. Just prior to arrival, the
supercell thunderstorm went through another cycle of strengthening,
making the storm much more intense than it had been earlier. The
storm reached it's peak intensity as it moved across the north side
of Charlottesville.

It was at this point in the storms life cycle where it started to
drop damaging hail and very strong wind gusts under the forward-
flank downdraft of the storm. This is where a majority of damage
reports were, with numerous trees and powerlines down between the
Greenbrier and Locust Grove neighborhoods and continuing into Darden
Towe Park. Ground photos and video, paired with drone photos of the
aftermath showed a vast majority of this damage occurring in the
southeast direction. This is consistent with a damaging straight
line wind event, which occurred over roughly a three square mile
area. In this area there were numerous snapped and uprooted trees,
several of which fell onto structures and/or powerlines.
Additionally, there were a few locations with some structural
damage, but those few instances could easily occur with this level
of straight line wind damage. The damage lacked any true linear
continuity overall, but was moreso in several north-to-south swaths.

Additionally, this area had measured hailstones in the 2 to 2.5 inch
range. At this time, when paired with radar presentation, this would
reinforce the thinking that this damage likely occurred under a
microburst within the forward flank downdraft region of this
powerful supercell thunderstorm. However, the National Weather
Service will be sending a storm damage team to further investigate
early this coming week.

It is important to note that severe thunderstorms are capable of
producing wind gusts equal to EF0 and EF1 tornadoes in extreme
cases.

The National Weather Service would like to thank Albemarle County
Department of Emergency Management, City of Charlottesville
Emergency Management, the University of Virginia, as well as local
reports via social media and local broadcast meteorologists for
the invaluable information provided to this survey.

08/15/2026

Ten large, mature trees snapped at the entrance of Darden Towe Park. I assume this was the location of max winds in the area yesterday. I estimate around 80mph, but the NWS may need to confirm this.

Approx ~20 additional large trees down or snapped through the park.

Last photo is just before the storm came in. The pine trees on the right are the ones that were destroyed. I may have captured the last photo of them living… 😞

08/15/2026

Massive trees down in Charlottesville from the destructive storm last evening. 🌩️🌩️

So sad to see these giants go. Very powerful winds to snap the trees in half in places…

Photos from in and around Darden Towe Park. See my previously posted video for an idea of the wind speed and power.