Ashton storms the internet with lightning footage
Weather watch
Blink or you’ll miss it... but Quicksilver skipper Ashton Davenport didn’t blink and didn’t miss a spectacular lightning display from his Wonga Beach vantage point on New Year’s Day, capturing it for it to be shared with tens of thousands of keen weather enthusiasts.
Ashton, 23, told Newsport he was relaxing at the beach when he saw the storm clouds in the distance framed by a rainbow and, as he often does, got his phone out to see if he could capture its brilliance.
“I really enjoy capturing weather events,’’ said the boat skipper, who operates the Quicksilver pontoon but has spent the past four years working up and down the Far North coast as a skipper for commercial fishing operations.
“I usually just post what I get and people like them… but this one has gone nuts.’’
“As soon as I took it, I sent it straight to mum.’’
Ashton’s mum, Susan, shared the footage to the North Queensland Weather Watch Facebook page, where about 100,000 members are active.
It was viewed more than 80,000 times and shared more than 200 times in a couple of days.
The comments also flowed.
“That is the best lightning in a rainbow I have ever seen. How spectacular,’’ said Katie Anne Thoars.
“Nature's happy New Year fireworks,’’ added Katherine McIntosh.
And Marty Mathews reckons “that's gotta be one of the best captures ever!”.
Ashton said he gets his phone out whenever he sees a storm or strange weather.
“I really need to get a camera so I can do a better job at it,’’ he said.
“They can come out of nowhere and can be very unexpected.
“As a skipper, you have to keep an eye out for these storms because you can quickly get caught out and they can be intense.’’
Have you captured a spectacular weather event in our region? You can share your wild weather moments with Newsport readers by sending images to [email protected] Drop your details so we can have a chat.
Happy storm chasing.
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