Published: October 31, 2007

Unexpected Thunderstorm in Folsom

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Thunderstorms are unusual in Folsom. This one was unexpected - to me - and thoroughly enjoyable.

It was a beautiful evening, walking along the street, thinking about dinner, and turning the corner, I saw a nice sunset. I had other things to do so I only gave it a glance. As I turned the next corner, it burst into flames - a stunning sunset. So I ran along the nearest alley, pulling my camera out of its case, but the view from there wasn't great.

On Sutter Street in Folsom, CA, looking west (duh!), fire in the sky

I knew the place to be was on Sutter Street, but could I make it in time?

By the time I'd covered the 200 yards, some of the fire had gone, but it was still nice. After firing off 9 rapid shots, I paused, just in time to see a flash of forked lightning.

Cursing myself for missing that, I set up the camera and waited. Two minutes, three minutes, I sensed it was going to start again, so I fired off a couple of shots. One of them caught the flash, but it went over to the left behind the trees. I waited for the clap of thunder, and there it was, almost 15 seconds later.

On Sutter Street in Folsom, CA, looking west, red sky and lightning flash over into the trees

Hoping there would be another, I waited another three minutes and started shooting - no flash, just beautiful red sky. Surely, there would be one more. I hit the button and whammo! there it was - worth the wait. Lightning over Folsom.