On 7/21/2020 I headed down to St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge to get some sunset pictures. I knew rain and storms were possible which sometimes can make sunsets more interesting.
As I was driving along lighthouse road near the “T-Dike” I saw to the east one of the yellow construction vehicles used to repair the levee sitting near a structure sometimes called the “bus stop”.
The sun was low in the west and illuminated the scene very nicely and there were some dark clouds forming in the east. I left my tripod in my white van (the Vana White) so I could walk faster.
As I got to the tree line I began jogging toward the construction vehicle and could hear tree limbs breaking off and pine needles were flying through the air. I knew I had to get back to my van so I used my telephoto lens to take a couple of photos of the vehicle with Stoney Bayou in the background.
I jogged back until I reached the tall grass on the levee and had to slow down because I could not afford to trip on the unstable footing. The wind was to my back and was so strong I could feel it propelling me forward on each step.
The wind was whipping up the marsh grass and there was a very strong smell of sap/chlorophyll in the air. As I got to within a few hundred feet of Vana it began to rain and the wind began to slow down.
After about 15 minutes I drove down lighthouse dodging palm fronds in the road way. After I parked Vana in front of the weather camera I walked up the road toward the boat launch road to pickup the palm fronds lying in the road. As I returned to the lighthouse parking lot I saw a beautiful double rainbow over the observation deck and covered bench.
The photo below did not capture the second part of the rainbow but it was definitely there.
BTW, Vana can be seen in some of the Facebook pictures from the weather cam.
It is a good thing I love storms.
Jim