7 Days Chasing Florida Storms In A Yaris

Paul Farace Photography
1 day ago
5 min read

Man facepalms holding a broken drone under a stormy lightning sky with huge DISASTER text over water.

I spent 7 days chasing crazy lightning storms down the Northeast Florida coast in my tiny Toyota Yaris.

Watch the full video here: 7 Days Chasing Florida Storms In A Yaris

From St. Augustine down scenic A1A to Flagler. From the coast to the river and everywhere in between. This week was a chaotic test of patience, endurance, and gear. I got absolutely soaked, had some incredibly close lightning calls, and unfortunately, pushed my drone a bit too far.

My main goal was capturing high quality long exposure lightning photography and storm timelapses. In this vlog, we chase storms all week, I break down my process and use long exposures to stack multiple lightning strikes into a single dramatic frame.

Join me in this northeast Florida storm chasing adventure!

I setup on the beach near Buccaneer Trail sign which is just a spot on the side of A1A south of Crescent Beach and north of Marineland. There are some old jagged piers sitting in the sand that make a great subject to sit in front of a dramatic storm.

The radar was telling me there was lightning everywhere around me, but I was not able to view any. It must of been up and high and wrapped in the rain. The wind coming off this front was intense! Sand ended up in every corner of everything I had out there. It was crazy! Check out the video to see how windy it was!

I still got a great timelapse and some cool stormy photos!

Man in blue shirt and sunglasses gestures on a windy beach under dark storm clouds, with sea and weathered posts behind him.

Black-and-white stormy beach with broken wooden posts in the surf under dramatic dark clouds, eerie and empty

The very next day we had some amazing dramatic weather pass through at Southeast Intracoastal Waterway Park. I set up on the very end of the boardwalk to run a timelapse. I witnessed several great strikes while I was there, but the rain came on heavy and fast. I was only able to capture a single strike from this storm, but it was a great front!

Southeast Intracoastal Park

Man in maroon "oh snap fishing" shirt gestures toward distant storm clouds over a marsh, with a camera on a tripod in the foreground. Southeast Intracoastal Waterway Park in northeast Florida.

Dark storm cloud over green wetland plain with sunbeams breaking through, creating a dramatic, moody sky. Southeast Intracoastal Waterway Park in northeast Florida.

Lightning strikes over a grassy wetland beneath dark storm clouds, with a dim golden horizon. Southeast Intracoastal Waterway Park in northeast Florida.

After that storm front passed through I chased it over to the beach side. My plan was everyone would be leaving because of the rain, the front would pass and then I could photograph the lightning over the dunes and ocean as it drifted out to sea.

The plan was great! The execution terrible! Haha....

I setup, and got slammed with another front that popped up. Soaked again. After about 10 minutes that passed and we looked pretty clear. Lightning was everywhere, but somehow I got zero strikes on camera.

That's just the way it goes sometimes.

Man in maroon "Oh Snap Fishing" shirt gestures on a sandy beach under stormy blue clouds, with two tripods and a camera bag behind him. Marineland Florida.

Golden sand dunes with sparse grass under a dramatic cloudy sky, evoking a vast, empty desert landscape.

Rural St. Augustine Lightning Storms

And then finally, on day 6, we got a storm producing some strong lightning! I went out on my normal route around my house ("The Loop") in the rural St Augustine farmland and was able to position just right to get some epic strikes.

Man in blue shirt points at lightning in a stormy grassy field beside a tripod-mounted camera in rural St Augustine Florida.

I setup the timelapse and in the end was able to capture about 12 frames of lightning. Here they are composited into one final image.

Lightning streaks beneath a towering thunderstorm over a green field, with dark clouds and a patch of blue sky in rural St Augustine Florida.

Daytime lightning can be difficult because of the contrast needed to show the strikes well. You need to have a darker background to get the most out of it and that can be difficult in nearly full sunlight.

That is why blue hour and nighttime lightning really pops so well. But when things do line up, daytime lightning can produce some amazing images!

You just have to be a bit more determined and keep at it until things line up. Good thing here in Florida we get nearly daily chances every afternoon in the summer.

Practice makes perfect.

Crazy Shlef Cloud Over the St Johns River

After that front passed through I headed down to the river in hopes to capture some strikes over the ocean. I got there and there was an epic storm approaching so I quickly grabbed my gear. But by the time I got my gear out there the storm was violently moving in.

Dramatic dark storm clouds sweep over a calm sea, with rain on the horizon and a small pier at the right.

So what's a photographer to do?

So I grabbed a phone panoramic short of it before it tried to get me.

Massive dark storm cloud rolling over the St Johns River, with docks and trees along the shoreline under an ominous gray sky. Riverdale boat ramp.

That was a wild storm front!

Bitter Sweet Firey Sunset Over the St Johns River

And that brings us to the last day out and of the most amazing sunsets I've seen in a while on the St. Johns River. It was also the last day my drone would fly. Bitter sweet because the clips are awesome, but I had no reason to still be flying at the time it went down.

Fiery orange sunset over a calm evening, with dark horizon and glowing clouds on the St Johns River.

There is a beautiful spot on the bank of the river near my house and I went down to take some sky camera clips. Everything was going so well until I decided to get a clip shooting between two trees. So I turned off my obstacle avoidance for a second and that proved to be the fatal mistake.

Pink and purple sunset over calm water with long piers and small dock huts, creating a serene mood.

I soon forgot it was turned off and was flying backwards over the river. It went straight into some trees and luckily didn't land in the water, but I had to wade nearly half a mile in the dark alligator infested river.

Barefoot.

I won't lie it was a bit spooky because I see gators here all the time. I also tore my feet up scrambling down the river in a panic lol, ah fun times.

I somehow found it and quickly saw it was pretty destroyed. Arm dangling off, body separating. It took a very hard hit.

White banner with RIP M5P :( over dark tree silhouettes, creating a somber, mournful mood.

TINY TINY chance I may be able to fix it myself. I doubt it... but I have to try right?

Watch the full video here: 7 Days Chasing Florida Storms In A Yaris

I hope you enjoyed this adventure and the photos!

Are you chasing Florida storms this season?

Let me know where and I would love to see some of your photos or vids!

I'll see you on the next one!

Paul Farace

LOCATIONS

St. Augustine, Florida

Crescent Beach

Marineland

Flagler Beach

Southeast Intracoastal Park

Buccaneer Trail Sign Access (A1A)

St. Johns River

River Dale Boat Ramp

PHOTOGRAPHY TECHNIQUE

For the daytime and twilight storm shots, I used the Breakthrough Photography 6-stop ND filter paired with a CPL to manage any harsh glare when needed. I slowed down my shutter speed and capture smooth storm clouds. Most of the lightning images shown are created using long exposure timelapse photography, allowing me to capture consecutive strikes and blend them together into a final image along with the full timelapse.

GEAR

Sony A7iii: https://amzn.to/4vgrOTL

Viltrox 16mm f1.8: https://amzn.to/3QfoRTf

Tamron 28-75mm: https://amzn.to/4sV4U2y

Dji Mini 5 Pro: https://amzn.to/3PVgdt7

Breakthrough Photography 6 Stop ND: https://amzn.to/4c2cLWe

and CPL Filters: https://amzn.to/41XllQ0

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Check out my THIS IS FLORIDA! series on YouTube where I am exploring the full length of Florida's A1A in search of the best landscape photography spots.