I worked a rather rare midweek afternoon shift at Van Nuys AP, and brought my camera with me. It was a bright and beautiful day with N to NW winds, great visibility, plus a few ACSL around. Don’t tell me that you don’t know that “ACSL” stands for “altocumulus standing lenticular” clouds. These wave clouds were courtesy of fast flow aloft over the Transverse Ranges of Southern California (northwest to northeast of Los Angeles). After a few obligatory airplane pics during the late afternoon, my camera lenses were turned towards the ACSL sunset. Enjoy!

Below are images from LAX (Jan 21 and 22) and VNY (Jan 23). The first four are from LAX, and show aircraft landing and taking off towards the east, which is somewhat rare. That is Santa Monica Bay and the Malibu coastline in the distance on 1211, The next eight are from LAX on the 22nd. Among these are shots of a storm base to the north, with the L.A. skyline on the right. The storm base exhibits an obvious “clear slot”, which is an area of cloud erosion which is likely due to an RFD (rear-flank downdraft). The low-level shear on this day was strong enough to allow some low-level storm organization and rotation. No lightning was observed with this cell, but it dumped half-inch-sized hail near Beverly Hills.

The remaining images were taken at Van Nuys AP on the 23rd. I was there for a pretty sunrise as a shallow fog bank drifted up to the south end of the runway.

METAR KLAX 211953Z 11003KT 5SM RA BR SCT014 OVC020 12/09 A2911 RMK AO2 SLP855 P0011 T01170094
SPECI KLAX 212006Z 14003KT 2 1/2SM R25R/6000VP6000FT +RA BR SCT014 BKN020 OVC028 12/10 A2910 RMK AO2 P0007
SPECI KLAX 212022Z 17007KT 140V210 3SM RA BR SCT012CB BKN019 OVC028 12/10 A2909 RMK AO2 CB NE MOV N P0018
SPECI KLAX 212039Z 21015G19KT 4SM RA BR BKN012CB BKN022 OVC031 13/11 A2908 RMK AO2 CB NE MOV N P0024

METAR KLAX 212053Z 22015G24KT 3SM RA FEW010 BKN023CB OVC040 13/10 A2907 RMK AO2 SLP844 CB NE MOV N P0026 60037 T01330100 56039 $

SPECI KLAX 212122Z 23014G24KT 2SM -RA BKN014CB OVC022 13/11 A2908 RMK AO2 CB OHD MOV NE P0001 $
SPECI KLAX 212133Z 25018G26KT 7SM R25R/5500VP6000FT -RA FEW014CB SCT022 OVC050 12/09 A2909 RMK AO2 PK WND 25026/2125 CB SE-NE MOV NE P0003 $
METAR KLAX 212153Z 25015KT 10SM FEW015CB SCT030 OVC055 13/10 A2910 RMK AO2 PK WND 25026/2125 RAE39 SLP852 CB E MOV NE P0003 T01280100 $

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I have worked part-time as a certified weather observer for about four years at Van Nuys Airport (VNY) and Los Angeles International AP (LAX). Typically, I am scheduled only one or two shifts per month at LAX, and that shift is usually a daytime shift. But, on August 14th, I had to be at LAX at 11 p.m. for the midnight shift. Usually, the weather here in summer is extremely benign, and all one has to be concerned with as a weather observer is the low cloudiness that tends to cling to the coastline. But, an upper circulation was approaching Southern California from the south, bringing with it some mid-level moisture and some unstable air, so there was an outside chance of some high-based thunderstorms overnight. It seems like 98 times out of 100 that nothing interesting happens when there is a slight chance of thunderstorms for our coastal sections. In fact, in my four years as an observer, I had yet to actually observe a lightning flash while on duty! And, I can probably count on one hand the number of times that I have witnessed a spectacular nighttime/summertime lightning display locally in the past 20 years. Nevertheless, a photographer must be prepared for the unexpected! I worked at Albertsons 1 to 10 p.m. on Thursday, went home to grab my camera bags and tripod, and headed to LAX.

It was a little humid, but there were only a few piddly altocumulus around on my 40-minute drive from Westlake Village to LAX. As I approached LAX, a scattered to broken deck of low clouds materialized…same old story, it seemed. I issued a “SPECI” (special) observation shortly after 11 p.m. as the low cloud deck was a little below 1000 feet. I watched the local TV news and weather, and, yes, there was still that outside chance for thunderstorms overnight, but nothing was developing yet. That was at 11:20 p.m. My camera bag and tripod were on the floor, and I didn’t think there would be much to shoot on this shift.

I went down from the weather office (on the 19th floor of the control tower) to the 16th floor observation deck at 11:45 p.m. The low cloud deck remained broken, with about 5/8 coverage. Above that was some mid-level cloudiness, but is was difficult to see. As I turned to go back inside the tower, I caught a flash to the south, towards Palos Verdes—–YES!! A thunderstorm had developed! I rushed into the office and noted in the remarks of the hourly observation that there was lightning to the distant south of the station. (“Distant” implies that the activity is more than ten miles away). I checked the radar scan, and the Santa Ana Mountains radar showed a small, young cell quite close to Palos Verdes, and moving northwest. I called my friend Curt Kaplan of the NWS in Oxnard to let him know about the lightning, and then called my co-worker “John” at Van Nuys Airport. He was watching the activity to his south, too, though it was farther away. He didn’t have the low clouds intervening, though, and he said that the lightning was becoming increasingly active! I rushed back down the stairs to the observation deck at 11:57 p.m. I took a look to the south and southwest, and there was indeed plenty of lightning in the clouds above the marine layer stratus. Fortunately, the stratus was breaking up some, too. Then, a brilliant CG crashed to the earth maybe five miles to the south, towards Redondo Beach! That was not distant! I rushed back up the stairs and issued a SPECI observation which said that LAX was now experiencing a thunderstorm, with frequent lightning south and southwest. I grabbed my camera and tripod and blasted back down the stairs, and set up on the 16th-floor platform. Very nice cloud-to-ground lightning strikes were occurring about one or two every minute to my southwest and west now, approximately four to eight miles away. The thunder was loud enough to hear over the continuous and normal airport roar. There was still some low cloudiness, and these clouds blocked part of the bolts on their way to the ocean. That was a little irritating, but the low clouds added somewhat of a cool dimension and color to the shots.

Two or three thunderstorm cells developed near Palos Verdes and moved northwest over Santa Monica Bay, towards Oxnard. My view from LAX was excellent, and there was only brief light rain and no wind. All I had to do was to get the focus and composition and exposure settings right, and to click away! The foreground was relatively bright what with all of the airport lights. With my ISO at 100 and aperture around f7 to f8, I could take exposures of about 6 to 12 seconds duration. The nice CGs occurred frequently enough so that I was able to catch a good one every minute or two. At 12:45 a.m. I had to take another observation —- not much had changed since the SPECI, with a thunderstorm at the AP and frequent lightning to the southwest and west, moving northwest. From 1 a.m. to 1:40 a.m. I continued to shoot, as the cells grew a little more distant. The low clouds cleared nicely, too, but around 1:40 a.m. the close CGs seemed to cease. There were still some distant CGs to the WNW, towards Oxnard.

I continued the thunderstorm at LAX for the 1:50 a.m. observation, and then took it out in a special about ten minutes later. There was still some lightning, but it was all distant west and northwest now, and the radar showed a pronounced weakening trend. The show was over, and it was time to check out my shots and to post them on Stormbruiser!

e-mail contact:

bill@stormbruiser.com