25 to 34 Intra-Cloud Lightning Thunderstorm

Intra-Cloud Lightning thunderstorm lighting up the night sky. This storm got me out the door and on to this chase waiting for it to bust out of the clouds but that never happened at least how I saw in in my mind.

Intra-Cloud Lightning thunderstorm lighting up the night sky. This storm got me out the door and on to this chase waiting for it to bust out of the clouds but that never happened at least how I saw in in my mind. So in looking for something interesting to photograph with this storm I landed outside of Mead Colorado on Highway 34 with a view of I-25 with golden light from the city lights and purple lit up intra-lightning clouds.

Intra-cloud lightning is by far the most common type and my least favorite to photography. This type of lightning occurs between oppositely charged portions of the same cloud. The flash usually occurs between the positively charged top of the cloud and the negatively charged bottom of the cloud. When intra-cloud lightning occurs, an outside observer, such as you or I standing on the ground, does not normally see more than a flicker of light. This is because the cloud obscures the lightning flash and makes it hard to see.

Sometimes, however, portions of the flash will leave the obscuring boundary of the cloud, and a bright channel of light, similar to a cloud-to-ground flash can be seen for miles.

Colorado Fine art nature landscape lightning weather photography poster prints, decorative canvas prints, acrylic prints, metal prints, corporate artwork, greeting cards and stock images by storm chaser James Bo Insogna aka “the Lightning Man” www.BoInsogna.com

Please click on the image for the fine art photography gallery.