A stunning storm cloud retreats across the prairies leaving clear skies in its wake.
The timing could not have been better. On Monday night, June 17, a thunderstorm retreated to the east at just the perfect time to catch the light of the setting Sun.
As these prairie storms often do, this one left behind clear skies, with a quarter Moon at right to the south and the Sun to the west, off frame but illuminating this amazingly sculpted cloud. Downdrafts in the thunderhead produced the mammatus clouds – the bulbous structures hanging from the thundercloud. The low Sun angle emphasizes their form.
We’ve had a lot of rain and storms lately, but when a storm puts on as fine a show as this one, I’ll take it!
This image is a 3-segment panorama using the Canon 5D MkII and 16-35mm lens at 16mm. I used Photoshop’s Photomerge and Adaptive Wide Angle filter to stitch and straighten the image.
– Alan, June 18, 2013 / © 2013 Alan Dyer
The Amazing Sky 
I took it for my desktop panel….
we can seen the moon on the right, no ?
Yes, the Moon is at right.
Terribly beautiful cumulonimbus clouds-an atmospheric wonder
Wow! Amazing and very interesting capture and incredible image gallery also. Congratulations!
http://clouds-air.webs.com/apps/photos/
Reblogged this on Sunwapta Falls Rocky Mountain Lodge and commented:
Nature is a beautiful thing.
Thanks, Dan. It was the thunderstorm I had been waiting for, to get that lighting.
Wow! Incredible clouds.