Incredible images of weather phenomena including clouds, twisters and misty mornings are battling it out in this year’s Weather Photographer of the Year competition.
The photographs were captured by entrants from around the world and include images showing the impact of weather on humans, cities and natural landscapes.
More than 7,700 photographs were submitted by more than 2,600 photographers all vying for a place on this year’s Weather Photographer of the Year calendar.
‘I have no doubt that this year’s entries will be made even more special due to the ongoing challenges presented by Covid-19, but the passion spent on this effort provides some respite from that storm and a reminder of the beauty that weather surrounds us with,’ said Jesse Ferrell, AccuWeather expert meteorologist and social media manager.
The winners of Weather Photographer of the Year 2020, Young Weather Photographer of the Year 2020, Public Favourite and the runners up from each category will be announced at a virtual event on October 17.
Anyone who wants to vote can go to photocrowd.com until September 25.
‘This was one of the top two largest haboobs (dust storms) ever recorded in the state of Arizona. At the point of this photo it was fully mature, towering more than a mile high with winds in excess of 80 miles per hour. The sun was setting, giving the dust wall it’s deep pink hue. It was a truly incredible sight to see,’ said photographer Tina Wright from Arizona, US
‘In the wake of storm Jorge and after a thunderous hail storm, a full, beautiful rainbow appeared behind the semi feral ponies of Cefn Bryn common, Swansea,’ said photographer Joann Randles. The pony is covered in mud after the storm saturated the grass and it grazes in front of the rainbow while paying little attention to the photographer
A flash of lightning was photographed as it hit the ground from a vantage point at Scenic Drive, El Paso, in Texas, by Lori Grace Bailey. The Royal Meteorological Society (RMetS), in association with AccuWeather, has announced the 26 finalists for this year’s Weather Photographer of the Year 2020′, which will now be put to an online public vote
Lake Baikal Ice was photographed in the Russian Federation by Alexey Trofimov. The blue ice glistens from underneath a blanket of snow as the sun shines down on a clear day. The lake, thought to be the deepest in the world, is in the mountainous Russian region of Siberia, north of the Mongolian border
This photograph of clouds above El Chalten in Argentina was taken by Francisco Javier Negroni Rodriguez. ‘Only for a moment the clouds allowed me to see El Chalten and to my surprise there was a spectacular and brilliant lenticular cloud with a beautiful and perfect figure that I had never seen,’ he said
‘The weather in Iceland is changing dramatically as all-time strong winds draw fantastic images in the sky, which follow each other rapidly,’ said photographer Mikhail Shcheglov of his photograph. The entry shows a double rainbow above frothing waves in Dyrholaey, Iceland
‘This monster shelf cloud was perhaps the most beautiful structure and size over my area. I was waiting for two hours for the cloud to arrive and then it made a real mess’, said photographer Maja Kraljik of the image that was taken in Umag, Croatia. It shows large swelling clouds over the town’s harbour
LongCoc Tea Hill, in the Tan Son District of the Phu Tho Province in Vietnam, was photographed by Vu Trung Huan. The area is filled with a number of small hills covered in tea farms. The image shows a mist settling between the hills, the reason tourists to flood to the area every winter. The sun’s rays are broken up by the fog, creating a striped effect
Wet Sleddale Dam, in Shap, Cumbria, was pictured by Andrew McCaren. A visitor in a bright red coat contrasts dramatically with the sheets of water cascading down the dam wall. The artificial reservoir is set amongst the Shap Fells and lies just within the boundary of the Lake District National Park in the UK
Many of the photographs entered into the competition showed natural weather phenomena. Left, ‘an incredible EF2 tornado tears through a rural Colorado field after destroying a home,’ said photographer Tori Jane Ostberg about the image she took in Wray, Colorado. Right, Boris Jordan took this image near Leipzig (Saxony, Germany). He said, ‘this was by far the most spectacular mammatus display I’ve ever seen in my entire life’
‘In winter the water level drops and cultivable lands get dry causing serious drought. In some areas farmers can’t even use water pumps to irrigate their lands. During the drought season people usually take fields as shortcuts to go from one village to another. I have tried to capture the scene in photos using my drone,’ said Abdul Momin of the photograph he took in Chittagong, Bangladesh