Rain Shield of Approaching Storm
October 26, 2015
Photographer: Erick G. Asabayes
Summary Author: Erick G. Asabayes
Shown above is the rain shield of a thunderstorm as observed from the volcano Ipala, near Chiquimula, Guatemala. As a volunteer firefighter I was training here with other firefighters when I noticed the storm approach. The blanket of water is obscuring the Suchitan volcano, one of the largest volcanoes in eastern Guatemala. Since the exposed flank of a mountain can be particularly dangerous in convective storms (you never want to be the tallest object when lightning is detected), we quickly descended to a more protected location. Photo taken from an elevation of approximately 4,900 ft (1,490 m) at 2:19 p.m. on September 20, 2015.
Photo Details: Nikon D5100 camera; 18-55 mm lens. Three separate photos were merged using Adobe Photoshop CS6, processed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.2 to adjust exposure, shadows, highlights and intensity.