These cumulonimbus clouds can produce heavy rain showers and thunderstorms. As it happened to work out the evening I shot this picture, it neither rained nor thundered. One thing I've always liked about this photo was the sense that it gave of having been photographed from an airplane at altitude. It actually was taken from a 500 ft. high hill. An 80-200mm f4L zoom at 200mm on a Canon FTb gave the illusion of elevation.
For an excellent discussion of cloud heights and types, along with tips on short-term weather forecasting based on your own observations of the sky, click here.
For a great and simple explanation of the mechanics of storm fronts, visit this page.
Ash Creek Images
Photographs of the West by Doug Gorsline
Towering Cumulus Clouds Threaten to Give Birth to a Thunderstorm.
