The 2020 Weather Photographer Of The Year Awards Prove That Nature Is Flippin' Lit
Look to the skies!
Every day across our planet, eye-popping meteorological phenomena occur, humbling us to the awesome raw power of Mother Nature. Lucky for us, photographers armed with DSLR cameras and really good lenses occasionally capture such moments and share them with the rest of us.
The Royal Meteorological Society, in association with Accuweather, revealed the winners of the fifth annual Weather Photographer of the Year awards. The competition is a "platform for the world's very best weather photography, depicting weather in its widest sense" and capturing "the beauty, power, occasional absurdity and fragility that comes with this force of nature."
This year's overall winner is Rudolf Sulgan's photograph "Blizzard," depicting a major winter storm sweeping across the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. Here are a few of our favorites:
Overall Winner
"Blizzard" by Rudolf Sulgan
Global warming is the primary cause of the current sea level rise. As a result, hundreds of millions of people living in coastal areas will become increasingly vulnerable to flooding. Higher sea levels would force them to abandon their homes and relocate. To combat this change in global temperature rise, we can reduce emissions and ensure communities have the resources they need to withstand the effects of climate change. Today's choices will determine how high sea levels rise, how fast it occurs, and how much time we have to protect our communities. I made this image in 2018, during a strong blizzard as El Nino's periodic warming of water often disrupts normal weather patterns. My main concern and inspiration is that my images hopefully do a small part in combating climate change. — Rudolf Sulgan
First Runner-Up
"Tea Hills" by Vu Trung Huan
Lost in the fairy scene. Long Coc tea hill has mysterious and strange features when the sun is not yet up. Hidden in the morning mist, the green color of tea leaves still stands out. Early in the morning, holding a cup of tea, taking a breath of fresh air, watching the gentle green stretches of green tea hills. It is true that nothing is equal!
For those who love nature, like to watch the sunrise, when standing on the top of the hill, you will the most clearly feel the transition between night and day. A large green land suddenly caught in sight. When the sun is up, everything is tinged with sunlight, on the tea buds there is still glittering morning dew, a pure beauty that makes you just want to embrace everything. — Vu Trung Huan
Second Runner-Up
"Monster" by Maja Kraljik
This monster shelf cloud was perhaps the most beautiful structure and size over my area. I was waiting for two hours for the cloud to arrive and then it made a real mess. — Maja Kraljik
Young Weather Photographer Of The Year
"Frozen Life" by Kolesnik Stephanie Sergeevna
The photo is of a leaf stuck in the ice. [Figuratively], this is print of summer on winter. — Kolesnik Stephanie Sergeevna
Runner-Up, Young Weather Photographer Of The Year
"Surf's Up" by Emma Rose Karsten
I was meeting my friend to hang out in my school parking lot (COVID kept us in so we met to talk from our cars) and this huge, awesome cloud rolled in. My eyes played tricks on me because I initially thought this was a huge wall of water. Shortly after this cloud appeared it rained, but not a significant amount. It was awesome. — Emma Rose Karsten
Public Favorite
"Baikal Treasure" by Alexey Trofimov
I took this photo during an expedition on the ice of Lake Baikal … It was noon, not really my photo time. But the light that the sun gave, refracting in blocks of ice, caught my attention and made me take this picture. — Alexey Trofimov
Finalist
"Sa Foradada Storm" by Marc Marco Ripoll
I tried many times to catch a good lightning strike behind this rock called Sa Foradada, but every time I tried, the conditions were not so good. I didn't have the moon on the sky to illuminate the scene, or the lightning was too far away. This night I knew that a big storm was approaching Mallorca and all the conditions were perfect. I don't remember if the moon was full, but I remember that it was very big. This was perfect, because the moon was going to illuminate all the land and the sea and [give] more colour to the scene. I chose my composition, and I shot many pictures until the storm fell on me. This is one of the pictures I took that night in Sa Foradada. To see the storm and the lightning that night was something amazing. — Marc Marco Ripoll
Finalist
"Predawn Thunderstorm Over El Paso, Texas" by Lori Grace Bailey
I live in Arizona but was visiting family members in El Paso, Texas that week. Very early on the morning of November 6 I woke up and felt an urge to check my radar app on my phone. I discovered a discrete thunderstorm cell was moving north from Mexico towards the US border near downtown El Paso. I hurriedly gathered my camera gear and drove to an overlook that gave me a perfect vista of the storm and of the downtown El Paso skyline. It's always been a "dream shot" of mine to capture lightning over this desert city landscape. Thankfully the storm held together as it made its trek north across the border between Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas. My dream shot came true as I captured this and several bolts before leaving shortly after this image was taken due to the lightning getting too close for comfort! — Lori Grace Bailey
Finalist
"Frosty Bison" by Laura Hedien
We were touring the west side of the park. It was a very cold sunrise, the coldest of the week so far. It was near zero degrees Fahrenheit. We came around the corner in our snow coach and saw this magnificent bison just sauntering down the road as if they owned the park … Keeping the required distance from him/her we hopped out, grabbed some photos, and quickly got back in the vehicle and watched as she/he walked about five feet right past us. It was as if we were not even there. It certainly added to the ghost-like event. — Laura Hedien
Finalist
"Halo" by Mikhail Kapychka
Lunar halo over the night forest lake, Mogilev, Belarus. I suddenly saw an unusual lunar halo in the night sky and hurried into the forest to take a picture of it. It was an amazing sight when in the night sky, the halo was like the eye of God. I've never seen this form of halo before. It was freezing weather and I couldn't stay in the forest for a long time, but I really wanted to take a picture of this image. — Mikhail Kapychka
Finalist
"Lavaredo's Gloria" by Alessandro Cantarelli
The Tre Cime of Lavaredo is illuminated by the moon that reflects a [Brocken spectre] behind me; on the cross of Mount Paterno the Ursa Major is captured on the highest peak and the headlights of the climbers to illuminate their ascent to the summit …
At about 23:00 the fog curtain lifted to what I [consider to be] one of the most beautiful shows I have ever seen in my life, the madness of the Three Peaks of Lavaredo illuminated by a powerful moon, with Jupiter on his right, above the highest peak, where I could see the headlights of climbers who climbed quickly to enjoy this magic. — Alessandro Cantarelli
[See the rest of the Weather Photographer of the Year finalists here]
