Chris Kridler's Sky Diary: storm chasing, photography and rainy-day tales

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The Storm Seekers Series, novels about storm chasers by Chris Kridler

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Chris Kridler - video, photography, writing and editing services

Words/images COPYRIGHT © 2021 by Chris Kridler. All rights reserved. Do not use Sky Diary photos on other Web sites. Personal use as computer wallpaper is permitted, but do not distribute photos. Write for information about purchasing video, photographs or articles. | Frequently asked questions

storm gallery: June 24-July 29, 2000

To see a larger version of a photo, just click on its thumbnail image below. Then, to get back to this page, hit the "back" button on your browser. Photos noted as taken from video were shot with a digital video camera. You can also click to see a short movie of a big bolt from a severe storm July 29 (more images of the storm are near the bottom of this page).




A storm in Brevard County, Florida, on June 24, 2000, spits out a cloud-to-ground bolt. Image from video. And then it spits out another hot CG. Image from video.




The storm June 24 storm goes linear. Image from video. A bolt in the rain creates an impressionistic image on the car windshield as I drive over a causeway. Image from video.




An ominous shelf cloud from another storm on June 24 races toward Okeechobee, Florida, from the west. Image from video. Florida fireworks: A lightning bolt crawls across the sky over Lake Okeechobee. Image from video.




Another anvil crawler rips open the sky over Lake Okeechobee on June 24 while daredevil spectators watch from the shore. Image from video. Here's a subtle crawler creeping along the edges of the clouds over Okeechobee. Image from slide.




Storms brewed June 25, too, affording a gentle sunset over the Indian River lagoon. Image from video. That night of June 25, a pretty storm with a defined anvil -- rare for Florida -- offered another crawler show. Image from video.




Here's a view of a June 25 anvil crawler from Melbourne Beach. Image from slide.




On July 22, I saw one of the biggest gust fronts I'd ever seen near Fellsmere. It was gorgeous and moving fast. Here's a small piece of it. Image from video. Here's another view of the shelfy-looking cloud as it evolved. Image from slide.




And another view of the dramatic gust front ... Image from slide. ... which then moved out over the Indian River. Image from slide.




July 23, this gorgeous gust front swooshed over my place in Indialantic, Florida. Image from video. On July 26, a lightning show in central Florida was preceded by a subtle sunset. Image from slide.




The July 26 lightning was distant at first, until Cheryl Chang and I got closer. Image from slide. We got next to the St. John's River and proceeded to be eaten alive by mosquitoes as bolts hit the far bank. Image from slide.




Here's more lightning. Cape Canaveral chaser Steve Sponsler and New York chaser Jack Corso were seeing the other side of the storm at this time. Image from slide. Here's a really branchy bolt, with the image cropped in a little for effect. Image from slide.




On July 29, west of Orlando, a nice rain core characterized this storm. Image from video. Another storm on July 29 had a severe warning on it. Here's a wide-angle shot. Image from slide.




Now I get a little closer to the severe cell. I met up with Steve Sponsler and Cheryl Chang about this time. Image from video. Here's another zapper from the severe storm. Image from video.




The storm passes over a building with a long metal roof. Note the structure. Image from slide. Daytime lightning is captured in this photograph. Image from slide.




BIG BOLT! On July 29 in Lake County, during the same storm, I got a very close-up look at a lightning bolt. It appeared to hit the edge of the parking lot. This huge flash is visible only when viewing the video at a very slow speed, but considering the way I yelped on the tape, I must have had an eyeful in real life. Image from video. Click to see a short movie of the bolt! Later that day, Cheryl, Steve and I made our way almost to the west coast of Florida, where we saw this lightning storm. Image from slide.




Links to 2000 chase images:

  • April 15-16: Storms and lightning spark the skies over the Space Coast in Florida
  • May 9-11: The Plains chase begins, and a beast of a storm produces damaging tornadoes in Iowa
  • May 12-13: Mushy storms in Illinois are heavy with warnings and hot with lightning; plus an eerie sunset
  • May 16: A storm in eastern Wyoming produces picturesque funnels and a quick tornado
  • May 17-24: A smorgasbord of storms, including a beautiful little bomb in Arkansas
  • May 25-27: Panhandle lightning, a shear funnel, and an amazing white funnel in Texas that really wanted to be a tornado
  • May 29-June 2: A gorgeous, weird storm in Nebraska and a dust storm that blew away a greenhouse in Goodland, Kansas
  • June 24-July 29: Spectacular lightning storms and gust fronts sweep through Florida
  • August 5-20: An ocean rainbow and a trip to the Florida Keys for a waterspout and glorious skies
  • August 25: A night of brilliant lightning in three different locations
  • August 26: A chase across Florida, from Vero Beach to Sarasota, through lots of hot bolts
  • September 4-26: Nifty lightning and a chase of marginal Hurricane Gordon


go to the main gallery page | go to storm chasers
go to reports from 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997