SEE IT: Amazing photos from a weather picture competition

By Jim Leffman via SWNS

From dramatic clouds over a volcano to lightning in Rio and a misty sunrise by the Taj Mahal these are some of the shots shortlisted for a weather picture competition.

They are some of the more than 3,000 entries to The Royal Meteorological Society's 2023 Standard Chartered Weather Photographer of the Year.

Now in its eighth year, the competition is a window to the vastly different climates experienced across the world and provides an international platform to highlight global weather events.

Both amateur and professional snappers from 94 countries have shared their pictures and stories for the competition.

Organizers hope the shots both delight and inform on weather phenomena and climate change.

Looking like a scene from Mordor in Lord of the Rings, Chilean snapper Francisco Negroni camped out for ten days for this amazing shot of lenticular clouds surrounding the crater of the Villarrica volcano.

Lava inside the volcano illuminates the cloud and Francisco, who called the picture "A Perfect Cloud" said: “I think it is one of my most beautiful photographs.”

To capture this shot he exposed his camera for over four minutes to gather enough light also capturing the rotation of the Earth - the stars are stretched out into streaks, since their position in the sky shifts during the course of the exposure.

Lenticular clouds form when air flowing over the ground encounters an obstacle like a volcano. This causes the air to rise and cool, which can allow moisture to condense and form clouds.

The statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro is illuminated by a huge fork of lightning in this picture by Brazilian photographer Fernando Braga.

Calling his picture "Divine Power," he added: "This night was simply unforgettable for me. Like a dream come true.”

Another famous backdrop forms a much gentler picture of a misty sunrise at the Taj Mahal.

Indian snapper Sunil Choudhary woke up early and walked more than four kilometers (2.5 miles) to catch this ethereal view using just his mobile phone.

Calling his pic "The Rising Taj," he said: “The light rays coming out of the tree compelled me to catch the moment. I was spellbound by the dreamy view of Taj Mahal.”

Clouds were a popular theme, with some more lenticular ones caught on an iphone in Scotland by local phototgrapher Kathleen Macleod.

Kathleen, from Inverness, took the pic called "Lenticular Sundown Reflections" near her home.

She said: “We are lucky to get amazing lenticular clouds with our topography.”

And also in Scotland was this colorful nacreous or polar stratospheric cloud, contrasted with a sunset-lit flight’s contrail cloud.

Nacreous clouds form in the stratosphere – some 10 kilometers (6 miles) above the Earth’s surface – where it’s extremely dry compared to the lower troposphere.

Snapper Colin Heggie took it from his house in Whitehills, saying: “I didn’t want to risk leaving the house for another location as I wasn’t sure how long the cloud would be visible.”

He framed the cloud with a plane flying by, leaving a condensation trail of cirrus cloud in its wake, providing a sense of scale in the photo.

Snowy scenes were also popular entries with this very British one of snow covered beach huts by Owen Humphreys taken in Blyth, Northumberland.

He set out to capture the contrast between the colorful beach huts and the blanket of white snow.

Getting a shot like this isn’t easy, since this coastal spot doesn’t often receive snow.

He said: “This is a picture I’ve been trying to capture for a while now, where all the elements came together with the sun on the beach huts and snow.”

And German snapper Christoph Schaarschmidt braved huge sub-zero temperatures to capture a frozen Fichtelberg Mountain in Saxony, Germany.

Dubbing his pic "Incredible Ice Sculptures" he said: “It was not easy to photograph this landscape because it was about -14 degrees that evening, with strong winds.”

Rainbows also featured as in this pic of a marine scene near Mersea Island in Essex.

Taken by Shaun Mills the photo captures two stunning sights the remnants of a double rainbow; and the historic 1897 fishing vessel, Ethel Alice shortly after a storm had passed.

Matthew Price from Walton, Mid Wales used a drone to get a selfie with his wife of a rainbow bulls-eye pattern surrounding a brocken spectre.

He was on Hanter Hill in Wales, when they spotted the brocken spectre that their shadows were creating in the fog.

He said: “I thought flying the drone may create a different perspective.”

Brocken spectres are caused by the shadow of the observer projected onto the mist, often creating the illusion of huge, distant, ghostly figures.

In this photo the spectre is surrounded by a rainbow-coloured glory as different frequencies of light are reflected back to the camera at different angles by the water droplets in the mist.

And no weather picture competition would be complete without a tornado, this one taken by Brazilian snapper Cristiano Xavier in Chugwater, Wyoming.

Cristiano followed a large storm hoping it might give him a chance to get a shot of a tornado. In the foreground you can see a farmhouse dwarfed by the scale of the twister.

Tornadoes are typically created by large storms known as supercells. Variation in wind speeds can cause a rotation in the air, which the storm can pull into a vertical vortex.

If this vortex or funnel cloud reaches the ground, then that’s a tornado, and the intense winds can suck up debris and cause serious damage.

Cristiano said: “Luckily this tornado stayed over the crops and didn't destroy any buildings.”

And this supercell was caught on camera by Sara Bruce in Missouri on her mobile phone.

She said: “I don’t think anyone really could truly understand how happy and in awe I was at that moment seeing something so dangerous and beautiful at the same time.

”These storm clouds are formed by convection where hot, moist air rises in the atmosphere and can produce a host of intense conditions, such as hail, strong winds, thunder and lightning, heavy downpours and tornadoes."

The organizers are now asking the public to vote until September 24 for their favorite shot from the shortlist that falls into camera and mobile phone categories. The winner will be announced on October 5.

"Fichtelberg Mountain." (Christoph Schaarschmidt via SWNS)

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Prof Liz Bentley, Chief Executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, said: “In my eighth year of judging the Weather Photographer of the Year competition, the entrants never fail to astonish me.

"This year’s shortlist shows the world’s weather in all its variety, beauty, power and even its capacity to devastate.

"Images bear witness to the impact of flooding, wildfires and drought on both natural habitats and human life.

"We hope that this will bring attention to the increasing frequency of these events caused by climate change, and prompt swifter action.”

Marisa Drew, Chief Sustainability Officer at Standard Chartered, commented: "Their images of beautiful and striking scenes from around the world so movingly depict the impacts of climate change on our planet."

To see the shortlisted images and vote for your favorite, visit here.