February: Welcome stranger storms into the Pilbara

Louise Ford is a keen photographer and pastoralist on Paroo Station, near Meekatharra, central Western Australia, where she and husband Jim run 1000 cattle on 200,000 hectares. The thunderstorm that contributed useful rain to their property in April 2007 — “we usually need a good, soaking rain,” she says — excited Louise. She rushed to the back of the homestead and photographed the storm as the sun set.

Afternoon thunderstorms in the Pilbara are not as common in April as in summer, but they form when moist air in the lower atmosphere is warmed by the heat of the earth’s surface, rises, and cools as it ascends. Water vapour in the air condenses to form cumulus and eventually thunderstorm (cumulonimbus) clouds. At sunset and sunrise, sunlight travels further through the atmosphere than at other times of the day. The atmosphere scatters the blue and green colours of the visible spectrum, leaving yellow, orange and/or red. Clouds, air pollution or dust in the atmosphere reflect these colours, sometimes creating a spectacular scene.

Note: The photograph in the printed calendar is NOT watermarked with a copyright symbol and name.

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