Lightning crawler

Lightning flashes in a weakening storm over the Banana River Lagoon on July 12, 2011. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com

Late afternoon storms

A line of storms is seen from west Cocoa, Florida, looking northwest over the St. Johns River, on July 12, 2011. Photo by Chris Kridler, chriskridler.com

I don’t necessarily have all day to wait around in central Florida for storms to fire, but I did go out before sunset to check out a line of storms in extreme western Brevard County. They made for a pretty backdrop to the anglers courting lightning strikes out at the Lone Cabbage Fish Camp. After dinner, I went out again, hoping for the storms – and the lightning – to persist. I saw a few crawlers while I got into position and barely anything after that. Once again, the storms didn’t survive much beyond sunset. I had a similar experience when I tried to chase the Arizona monsoon several years ago, though I’m sure I gave that too few days to be successful. Here’s hoping we get more lightning shows this summer – at night, when I can see them!