July 6, 2014 Severe Storm

Bena, MN

I drove west to Bena, MN from home to intercept a severe-warned storm that was right on the supercell threshold. It had some features of a supercell, but I wasn't sure it fully qualified. The best part of the show was the lightning.

I started west from home, thinking I would get to the storm somewhere around Deer River or just west of Deer River. I got all the way to Bena to take a look at the approaching storm over Lake Winnibigoshish, stopping at one point where Highway 2 crossed the Mississippi River. I took a few lightning shots as the storm approached.

Severe-warned storm, northeast of Bemidji, viewed over the Mississippi River from Highway 2 between Ball Club and Bena, MN.

Lightning over Lake Winnibigoshish at Bena, MN.

Approaching storm over Lake Winnibigoshish at Bena, MN.

The storm began to intensify a bit, but I realized I would have to drive a little farther west to get a good look at the updraft base of the storm. That would take me along a stretch of Highway 2 between Bena and Cass Lake that is pretty much nothing but forested. Only the occasional bog would provide any visibility to the storm. That's exactly what I found, and luckily, traffic was pretty light this evening, so I was able to park along the side of the road for several minutes before I had to deal with any passing cars. I saw what looked to be a bit of a wall cloud, but maybe it was just on the border between wall cloud and shelf cloud. I snapped a couple pictures and decided to head back to the beach to attempt some more lightning shots as the storm was much closer now.

Storm over the Chippewa National Forest between Bena and Cass Lake.

At first, the lightning was beyond the opposite shore, and it looked like I would not get anything very dramatic. I was zoomed pretty far out, and the shots weren't framed very well. The storm was starting to move off to the east, so I pointed the camera that way and zoomed in. Soon enough, the rear updraft base of the storm came into the shot, and I thought I was done.

Lightning over Lake Winnibigoshish at Bena, MN.

However, some much brighter bolts started to pop out from the very back end of the storm, around which the rear flank downdraft was circulating. I quickly adjusted the exposure settings, and here is what I got.

First bright bolt.

Lightning over Lake Winnibigoshish at Bena, MN.

A cropped full-resolution image shows streamers to the left of one of the bolts.

The storm moves away from Lake Winnibigoshish.

That was it for shooting here. I headed back home with the storm crossing the road in front of me, so I had to pass through the core or wait until the storm got past Grand Rapids. I slowly moved along as hail up to half inch in diameter hit the car. That wasn't too bad, but I don't think I found the maximum size hail. I got home and started shooting again once the storm passed.

Lightning looking south from home.

Back to Storm Chases | Home