Transmitter Hill Lightning Strikes.
Between 7.45 and 8.15 pm on Tuesday 26th September, an unexpected dry thunderstorm developed in the vicinity of Mutare which was accompanied by several lightning strikes on Transmitter Hill. Two of these were recorded hitting the top of the tall TV transmitter mast on the summit. This is the first time in more than 10 years of taking photographs of thunderstorms in Mutare that I have seen the mast being struck by lightning which usually lands elsewhere. What is even more amazing is that the mast was struck twice (at 8.07 and 8.12 pm) within a period of five minutes. It is also uncommon to have thunderstorms so early in the approach to the rainy season which usually starts in mid-November. Temperatures this winter and spring have been un-seasonally high following the trend of global warming and I suspect that this summer’s rainy season is going to be extreme with a lot of thunderstorm activity. If so, more spectacular captures to come!

Videos taken with hand-held Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS40 in sunset mode.

Extraction of relevant frames from videos, processing to remove artefacts and eliminate camera shake, compilation of two nine image montages.