A city holidaymaker captured these dramatic photos of an intense storm raging over Milan from his plane window while flying home.
James Lawler, from Warndon Villages, Worcester, took the images during his return flight over northern Italy, experimenting with camera settings until he was able to capture the breathtaking storm in surprising detail.
His dramatic photos were taken over Milan in the early hours of Thursday, August 20 as the plane flew over north-west Italy when a storm ended a summer heatwave.
DRAMA: The storm rages over Milan, captured by James Lawler (Image: Supplied by James Lawler)
The 32-year-old, who works in Recruitment and Marketing for the University of Birmingham, was returning from a holiday, flying over northern Italy and managed to snap this picture of a lightning storm from the plane.
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He said: “My wife and I were flying home from a holiday in Egypt, crossing northern Italy near Milan, when flashes of lightning began illuminating the night sky below. It was around midnight on Thursday, August 20, unable to sleep, I found myself watching the distant storm unfold outside the aircraft window.
INCREDIBLE: The storm over Milan was head-turning, captured by James Lawler (Image: Supplied by James Lawler)
“Curious to see if I could capture the moment, I first tried recording video, but the results were fairly disappointing. I then experimented with a few camera settings on my iPhone and, quite literally, pointed and hoped for the best.
“I was amazed by the outcome, so much so I woke my sleeping wife (that was a mistake!) The photograph revealed an extraordinary amount of detail within the storm, far beyond anything visible to the naked eye.”
Milan and the wider Lombardy region experienced severe storms and intense rainfall on Thursday, August 20 when the local government issued an orange weather alert for severe thunderstorms.
The storms started in the early hours of that morning, as an intense Atlantic low-pressure system brought an abrupt end to a record-breaking summer heatwave across northern Italy.
