Wintry scenes top Weather Photographer of the Year competition

Christopher Ison’s photo of Storm Eunice and Zhenhuan Zhou’s shot of Niagara Falls covered in ice have taken the top prizes in the Royal Meteorological Society’s annual competition

By Liz Else

A STORM captured in full fury and one of the world’s most famous waterfalls coated in ice have won first and second prize respectively in the Royal Meteorological Society’s annual Weather Photographer of the Year competition.

Christopher Ison’s photo Storm Eunice (pictured above) captures the moment that the eponymous storm hit the port of Newhaven in the UK at high tide on 17 February. Eunice, one of the UK’s worst storms since 1987, saw winds gust at up to 196 kilometres per hour. It met the criteria for a “weather bomb”, also known as explosive cyclogenesis, caused when air pressure falls rapidly.

Ison said that when he learned the storm was responsible for the first ever red warning for the south coast, he knew he “had to find a spot to record it – this was going to be big!”

Zhenhuan Zhou’s Frozen (pictured above) shows parts of Niagara Falls covered in ice, a phenomenon caused by mist and spray freezing over the top of the waterfall, though water continues to flow beneath the ice.

Niagara Falls’ waters did stop once, in March 1848, when strong winds pushed ice from Lake Erie into the source of the Niagara river, blocking it completely.

Zhou’s photograph captures the exquisite detail of the icicles on a building and the rock face. They are many metres long and look like stalactites.

All 22 of the shortlisted photographs can be seen on the Royal Meteorological Society’s website: rmets.org/photography.