Full Moon Thunderstorm
It was around 1:00 AM or so here in Mount Joy when I was awoken by thunder. I went to the bathroom and saw another bright flash of lightning, so I took the fan out the window and got dressed to go enjoy watching the storm.
The storm itself was a pretty decent thunderstorm. The best we have had so far this year, with some very close lightning strikes. The lightning was super bright. There was no wind, and the rain wasn’t as heavy as it was in the storm last evening. I assume the lightning was extra vivid because the rain wasn’t a blinding downpour like storms usually produce. The recent hot temperatures and high dew points certainly added plenty of fuel to the atmosphere.
The really neat thing for me with this storm was the fact that I noticed the full moon shining in the window when I went back upstairs to go to bed. I grabbed my phone and thought I’d go see if I could get any cool pictures with night mode on my phone. I could see that the departing storm clouds were very brightly lit by the full moon. They were lit more brightly than I can remember seeing at night. The timing of the full moon and the moon’s elevation must have been just right, along with the departing thunderhead’s position.
Of course, these pictures were enhanced by using night mode, but I think they look very cool. They didn’t come out all that dissimilar from what my own eyes saw.
I can only imagine how awesome it would have looked with darker skies, away from a town loaded with light pollution.