Mike Olbinski has been creating incredible storm centered photo and video content for years. We have shown you the dangerous power of a tornado through his eyes and his award winning once-in-a-lifetime lightning capture.
A heavy downburst of rain explodes outwards as it hits the ground, sending dusty outflow headed for Casa Grande. Lightning shoots out of the front of the rainshafts slamming in the ground.
But the Arizona based photographer is probably best known for his film series ‘Monsoon’, which brings viewers inside the heart-pounding storms that descend on the southwestern desert every spring and summer.
With today’s release of ‘Monsoon IV’, Olbinski once again delivers a tour de force of powerful storm time-lapse clips coupled with music that was seemingly composed just for this very film. And indeed it was, perfectly.
A lightning bolt at the Grand Canyon hits on the top of one of the little island plateaus on the eastern side as seen from Navajo Point.
The film is made from 110,000 photos taken over 13,000 miles of storm chasing from Desert Center, CA to Wilna, NM to the northern and southern borders of his homestate of Arizona. It seems like a monumental project that Olbinksi undertakes every year. But luckily for us, four years in and he doesn’t seem to be growing tired of the hard work. And the southwestern desert doesn’t seem to be tired of producing incredible storms for him to capture.
Stunning light bathes the mountains in Organ Pipe National Monument as lightning strikes in the hills.
Check out more from Olbinski on his website, Facebook, and Instagram.
A large haboob rolls west along Interstate 8
A lightning bolt exits the base of the storm but travles miles across the sky to slam into the ground well away from the main rainshaft.
Never did I ever expect to see a monstrous haboob over Organ Pipe National Park complete with a gorgeous shelf cloud structure over it. Unbelievable sight to see.
For my personally, a rare lightning strike out ahead of a haboob or dust storm, this one west of Gila Bend along Interstate 8.
A bolt starts up high and pierces the clouds as it slams into the ground in the town of Safford, Arizona
A wide angle was not e nough to contain this huge positive bolt on July 31st
A lightning strike lands in the Chiricahua Mountains just south of the town of Bowie, Arizona.
Two powerful bolts slam well away from the storm on the south side of the Safford area
Two similar bolts hit together in the span of four seconds.
A brief, but pretty haboob or dust storm rolls across the Tohono O’Odham Nation on August 23rd, 2017
A lightning strike hits in the Table Top mountains west of Stanfield, Arizona
A forest of saguaro stand tall like needles against a stunning rainbow after a monsoon storm rolled by
Lingering dust creates a hazy scene as bolts drop on the town of Tacna, Arizona
A skinny storm with a skinny bolt slams down into the desert south of Interstate 8 about 20 miles west of Gila Bend
A huge positive strike slams into the North Rim of the Grand Canyon
A thunderstorm with hail and rain moves across the Grand Canyon, dropping lightning into the cliff faces below
Two similar bolts hit together in the span of four seconds.
An isolated thunderstorm over the Chiricahua Mountains drops three lightning bolts as the moon aids in creating some beautiful backlight.
A huge positive strike lands well away from the precipitation core of this storm over the Grand Canyon, slamming in the plateau near the VIllage
A beautiful supercell spins across the open desert just north of Lordsburg, New Mexico