- The stunning images were captured by an off-duty pilot as he sat at the back of a Boeing 767-300 aircraft
- The plane was flying over the Pacific Ocean, just south of Panama City when the huge storm appeared
- In a series of images, a great Cumulonimbus cloud can be seen with a storm erupting through the sky
The stunning images were captured by pilot on his break as he sat at the back of the Boeing 767-300 aircraft while it travelled over the Pacific Ocean.
Pilot and photographer, Santiago Borja, had to get the timing of his photography just right and capture the storm when it was illuminated by a flash of lighting.
Otherwise, the storm is invisible in the dark night sky.
Mr Borja said: ‘This particular storm was standing alone, as opposed to almost all storms which are embedded into cloud areas that make them impossible to be spotted visually.
‘The clear skies around the storm gave us a perfect vision of it.
‘Flying at more than 450 Knots, you only have a clear view of the storm for a few minutes until you leave it behind.
‘The storm life-cycle is way longer than the time it takes to fly past it – it takes many hours for the storm to develop and vanish.’
Cumulonimbus clouds are created through convection, often growing from small cumulus clouds over a hot surface.
They get increasingly big until they represent huge powerhouses, storing the same amount of energy as 10 Hiroshima-sized atom bombs.
Although the storm looks formidable, Mr Borja said he never felt frightened while travelling past it.
He said: ‘These days aircraft have advanced equipment to circle around storms this big without entering any dangerous zones.
‘The storm may look close but it was actually several miles away.
‘We did not even experience any turbulence the entire flight due to this storm – it was so easy to see and avoid that we circled around it very easily.’
He added: ‘I felt a great sensation of admiration and respect as I took the photographs, you can feel the great power of the storm as it continuously flashes out the entire sky around it.
‘It is purely illuminated by a single lightning generated inside the storm. The rest of the time it is so dark you cannot see anything but a few stars.’
