Darwin Lightning and Storm Photos

I was fortunate enough to live in Darwin Australia for 12 months which allowed me to experience and photograph it's awesome lightning storms. The gust front photo below left is still one of my favourite photos of all time! This thunderstorm approached Darwin at about midnight, and the lightning it was producing was so bright it made it impossible to photograph another storm behind me. I eventually gave up and pointed my camera at this monster approaching from the east. The result was this photograph of the storm's shelf cloud right on the footsteps of Darwin, at midnight, totally illuminated by lightning! Later that same night I took the lighting photo below right, the closest lightning photo I managed to capture in Darwin.

Despite their impressive structure and great lightning shows, not many Top End storms attain severe status. This one did, producing a 100km/h microburst at Palmerston. As the storm approached Darwin I photographed it from Stokes Hill Wharf until a rogue bolt of lightning (more than likely a positive strike) flashed overhead and struck somewhere behind me. That was my queue to make a quick exit! Later on that evening the storm produced a nice lightning show over Darwin Harbour.

They may not be severe, but Top End storms are often quite spectacular. This storm approached Darwin one late afternoon, producing a very nice gust front as it hit. It stretched from east to west as far as the eye could see as the storm approached from the south. Although it didn't produce much rain, the storm's spectacular structure more than made up for the lack of precipitation.