Panorama | Out for a good book; instead, a good storm

Click on the above image to go to the full-size panorama on Flickr. Using a tripod, I took 10 vertical photos at a focal length of 32mm, each overlapping slightly, then combined them in a free program called Autostitch. I had gone to Lake Washington to read a book and drink a milkshake as the sun went down Monday evening. Before I left home, the radar was pretty clear. But it's Florida, and the hot summer air tends to generate these storms pretty quickly. The milkshake was an expected treat that I drank during this unexpected one.

I took this very blue shot soon after arriving. It's zoomed in to show the layers of the clouds as the storm approached.

The brunt of the storm passes just north of my position on the Melbourne lake. I took all of these photos with the camera on a tripod as I carried on a conversation with a beer-drinking storm watcher who said he used to operate a camera shop in town. I told him I just moved down to Florida a few years ago, and he apologized. Eh, but with storms like these, the Sunshine State isn't such a bad place.

Fishermen hurry in to the boat ramp just to the left of me. The bands of rain are visible on the horizon.

This very dark shot was taken just before I packed up and ran for my car. The far shore is no longer visible. Why? There's a wall of rain in the middle. It soon started pouring heavily, and lightning hit close to my car as I drove away. Then, I almost hit an extension ladder that someone apparently had lost in the middle of the road.