The Royal Meteorological Society has announced the winners of the Standard Chartered Weather Photographer of the Year contest.
Wang Xin was outside Shanghai during an intense thunderstorm when he captured a flicker of red between the usual white bolts of lightning. This phenomenon, known as red sprites, occurs now and then in the upper atmosphere, but it doesn’t last long.
Andy Gray’s moody image of a frosty scene in North East England took the runner-up prize. Jamie Russell, also from the UK, won third for a beautifully framed aerial image of a rainbow over a chain of islands.
Second place overall: Hoarfrost. Photo: Andy Gray/Weather Photographer of the Year
Third place overall: evening shower over the Needles. Photo: Jamie Russell/Weather Photographer of the Year
The category winners and finalists were not too shabby, either. The Smartphone winner showed a volcanic landscape in East Java, with an isolated puff of smoke above the most distant cone. Second place went to an image of Athens that might have used an orange filter but didn’t. Fine dust from North Africa colored the sky over the European capital.
There was also a Youth category for photographers 18 and under and a climate award.
You can view a selection of other winning images here.
Smartphone category winner: Volcanoes. Photo: Nur Syaireen Natasya Binti Azaharin/Weather Photographer of the Year
Second place, Smartphone category: African dust over Athens. Photo: Lesley Hellgeth/Weather Photographer of the Year
Third place, Smartphone category. Photo: Peter Reinold/Weather Photographer of the Year
Sundogs and diamond dust from frost in the icy air. Photo: Shengyu Li/Weather Photographer of the Year
Third place, Youth category: a stormy ocean sky. Photo: Lincoln Wheelwright/Weather Photographer of the Year
Photo: Htet Phyo Wai/Weather Photographer of the Year
