2nd runner-up - Monster © Maja Kraljik

Photographer name: Maja Kraljik

From: Umag, Istria peninsula, Croatia 

Age: 36

Photo title: Monster

Photo location: Umag, Croatia

Date photo taken: 24.09.2017

Story behind the photo: This monster shelf cloud was perhaps the most beautiful structure and size over my area. I was waiting for two hours for the cloud to arrive and then it made a real mess.  

Weather caption: A shelf cloud drapes itself across Umag in Croatia, associated with thunderstorms moving over the area. The shelf cloud is a low-level, horizontal, wedge-shaped cloud that occurs along the leading gust front in an intense thunderstorm. Warm, moist air that rises within a storm’s updraft cools and condenses above the storm’s rain-cooled downdraft (or gust front), producing the shelf cloud. As it passes overhead, it is accompanied by gusty winds and an abrupt fall in temperature, with precipitation then following.

Technical details:

Camera                     NIKON D40

Shutter speed           1/125

Aperture                    f/8

Focal length              18 mm

35mm equivalent      27 mm

ISO                           200