December 4th 2011 located on an isolated beach at Ballintoy Harbour along the Co. Antrim coast standing near the shore looking due N across the ocean at a brutal looking squall approaching land, it was heading in directly towards us so I took exposures before it got us. The storm clouds on the leading edge of this cell were very solid and more akin to the kind of convection one would see during the Summer months, this was a good sign as it indicated strong updraughts so this was a healthy beast coming in. The actual dark clouds above the sea were black as night to the point were I could see nothing with the naked eye however with a 14 sec exposure at ISO1600 the camera managed to record what the eye couldn't see. Winds from the cell's outflow were spreading out across the waves and hitting me which meant holding onto the tripod legs with both hands to reduce camera shake, this is something I'm now getting well used to with chases to the coast at this time of year.

The moon popped out from behind the clouds and it was like a torch beam pointing directly down onto the ocean which made the waves a beautiful pearly white colour. To the centre and R you can just make out a very dense precip core beneath the cell which was probably red on radar, I braced myself for a close range c-g strike on the sea but none happened which was shocking, in any case the hail got me first, it was big and well formed like perfect spheres of dry polystyrene which hit me in the face making a sort of tickle/sore impression upon impact then hitting the car roof and bouncing back into the air again, read the full image report from this night here. * All images are available for sale in the form of photo prints, canvas or digital files for licensing, if you are interested in a purchase simply drop me an email.