Encore - Lightning Above Athens
January 10, 2015
Take a look back at some of the EPODs our viewers found particularly eye-catching. Today, and every Saturday, EPOD invites you to rediscover favorites from the past. Saturday posts feature an EPOD that was chosen by viewers like you in our monthly Viewers’ Choice polls. Join us as we look back at these intriguing and captivating images.
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Photographer: Chris Kotsiopoulos
Summary Author: Chris Kotsiopoulos; Jim Foster
The photo above shows an electrifying scene above Athens, Greece, captured from my home in Chalandri, on the evening of July 9, 2009. A terrific thunderstorm ripped through Greece’s capital city around the midnight hour pitching powerful bolts of cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning. The lightning loops span a horizontal distance of approximately 12 mi (19 k). It’s estimated that more than 15 million thunderstorms occur somewhere around the world each year. Imitos Mountain (3,366 ft or 1,026 m) is in the background.
Photo details: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi camera; Shutter Speed/exposure 20 seconds; Aperture of 5.6; ISO 100; Lens EF28mm f/1.8 USM.