Dancing sprites, heavenly landscapes, and apocalyptic-looking skies are some of the top picks as the Royal Meteorological Society has recently unveiled the winners of the Standard Chartered Weather Photographer of the Year Competition 2024.
The judges selected their winners from a shortlist of 25 images submitted by photographers from 84 countries around the world, with the final decision made by an international panel.
Along with showcasing some beautiful photography, the awards hope to raise awareness of the many environmental problems facing our planet.
“From African dust impacting on Athens to tranquil weather over volcanoes, from a sudden local downpour to increased intense rainfall and flooding around the world, we are reminded that climate change is impacting on weather patterns everywhere, and that the global community needs to come together to act now and curb any further temperature rise,” Professor Liz Bentley, Chief Executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, said in a statement.
Full uncropped version of the winning image above.
Image credit: Wang Xin
The top prize – The Standard Chartered Weather Photographer of the Year 2024 Title Prize Winner – was awarded to Wang Xin from China for the image “Sprites Dancing in the Dark Night.”
While traveling around Shanghai’s Chongming District amid a violent thunderstorm, Xin managed to capture a flickering flurry of red in the clouds. This form of transient luminous event is very occasionally seen in the upper atmosphere when thunderstorm lightning is raging below, although they’re exceptionally tricky to capture on camera.
Andy Gray from the UK won the Main Title Runner-up prize for the photo “Hoarfrost Heaven,” showing a beautiful display of frost over the Derwent Valley, England.
2nd Place Main Title: “Hoarfrost Heaven.”
Image credit: Andy Gray
Main Title Third Place went to Jamie Russell from the UK for the photo “Evening Shower Over the Needles”.
“Some large showers started developing 20 miles or so to our north-northwest. Realizing they could cross The Needles with rainbow potential, we jumped in our rib at Colwell Bay and positioned ourselves with the camera,” Jamie commented.
3rd Place Main Title: “Evening Shower over the Needles.”
Image credit: Jamie Russell
The award also offers prizes for images taken specifically on a smartphone. For this category, the winner was Nur Syaireen Natasya Binti Azaharin of Malaysia for a stunning shot of smoking volcanoes in East Java.
A selection of other winning images can be seen below and the full gallery can be viewed here.
The winner of Smartphone category: “Volcanoes.”
Image credit: Nur Syaireen Nataysya Binto Azazharin
2nd Place of the Smartphone category: “African Dust over Athens”.
Image credit: Lesley Hellgeth
3rd Place in the Young category: “Fire and Ice”.
Image credit: Lincoln Wheelwright
3rd Place in the Smartphone category: “Circular Rainbow.”
Image credit: Peter Reinold
WINNER of SC Climate Award: “Rowing”.
Image credit: Gerson Turelly
“The winning images in this year’s competition tell a powerful story about our planet and the extraordinary force of extreme weather events. Many of the images draw urgent attention to the impact of our changing climate on communities and biodiverse habitats around the world,” added Marisa Drew, Chief Sustainability Officer at Standard Chartered.
“This is particularly true of the winner of our inaugural Climate Award, Gerson Turelly, with an image of the devastating flooding in Porto Alegre, Brazil. As headline sponsors of the Weather Photographer competition, we hope to raise further awareness about the threat posed by rising temperatures and associated extreme weather events. Congratulations to all the winners and runners-up, and thank you to everyone who entered,” said Drew.
