Rogue Weather

Photograph by Catie Prechtel , National Geographic Your Shot

As the smoke from the Oregon Gulch Fire began rolling into the Rogue Valley of southern Oregon, I decided to get a closer look at the enormous pyrocumulonimbus cloud that was rapidly filling the sky, writes Catie Prechtel , a member of our Your Shot community. There were so many forms within the smoke-tinted cloud that it was difficult to pick a single area to photograph, but what repeatedly caught my attention was this curling curtain of cloud that appeared to be releasing sheets of precipitation. Using my telephoto lens, I was able to capture both the looming shape of the cloud and its eerie glow.

Prechtel s picture recently appeared in the Your Shot assignment Show Me Your Wilderness .