The Perfect Storm

This was taken at Thornton Lake just south of Munising, Michigan. The day before was overcast and it started snowing in the afternoon. When I woke up in the morning the ground looked wet and it was overcast. At breakfast the news reports were of icy roads and many accidents. I had just about decided to watch a little TV and wait when I looked out the window and saw clearing skies. I grabbed my gear and headed out but about a mile out of town the roads turned icy and there were several cars in the ditch. It was a slow drive to Thornton Lake. When I arrived I found beautiful fall colors, reflections, dark storm clouds, rainbows, snow, rain, constantly changing light conditions and wet snow dripping from the trees. It made an interesting morning. About the only thing we didn’t have was lightning.

There are a few more shots from two mornings of shooting in Hiawatha National Forest
South of Munising.

Comments welcome.

Another great view. Glad you got out to capture the storm.

This must be the same day that others have posted images from (Council Lake, etc.). Sounds as though this was some of the lake effect stuff that blows off of Lake Superior periodically. When I was up there in '08 I got that kind of stuff four days running, but it was sufficiently warm to show up exclusively as rain. Squall after squall kept rolling in off the lake, separated by periods of sun. It was really bizarre.

There's a really fascinating effect here, between the snow and the fall color.

I like this one as well. It looks like it was taken around the time the rainbow appeared briefly. I've never seen light like that before and it made for a very memorable morning for shooting. Everyone else who was in the area that morning talks about the cars they saw in ditches, but I don't recall seeing any wrecks on H13 that morning. I was moving at a brisk clip just before dawn and when I made a stop along the road to check out the light, I couldn't believe how slippery the road was. I slowed down a lot when I got back in the van, which was hard to do, since I wanted to get to one of the lakes ASAP!

As for the rarity of the conditions that morning, John Gerlach said he had not seen anything like it in the 20 plus years he's been shooting there in October.

Brian--John Gerlach has certainly shot in the area far more often than I have, but in '08 he and Barbara weren't yet in the area for their workshops when I was seeing the "lake effect rain" conditions. I know this because I ran into them at Red Jack Lake the day before their first workshop session that year...which was a couple of days after the lake effect rain events finally came to an end. Now, what I saw obviously wasn't the same as what happened this year (no snow for me, as I mentioned--it wasn't cold enough), but it sure sounds as though there were at least some superficial similarities...like sufficiently unusual lighting conditions for a full rainbow to appear, and linger long enough for me to stitch an eight-image panorama as well as a number of single frames. This was in the afternoon, when the wind inevitably kicks up at Council and Red Jack, so, unfortunately, there was no grand rainbow reflection to capture.

Kerry, I think the conditions were indeed similar to what you experienced. As far as John's comments go, he was talking about the snow factor included, not the light/clouds alone. The Great Lakes do provide some fantastic light shows, especially in the fall. I know a father-son team (Todd and Brad Reed) that run a gallery and workshops out of Ludington, MI and talk often about 'October light' and how it is often the best month for spectacular light shows over Lake Michigan.

A- glad you are safe.
B-nice colors
C-looks like a fun day for photography