Before the Deluge
Death Valley National Park
You can feel a storm coming in the desert long before it hits. The air gets thick, the temperature plummets, and a strange silence falls over everything. We were way out on the Eureka Dunes when this system rolled in, and the contrast was just incredible. The sand seemed to hold onto the last bit of warmth and light, glowing against the bruised purple of the clouds. I could see the rain moving across the distant peaks, a gray curtain sweeping towards us. I remember the wind picking up, stinging my face with fine grains of sand. I got just a few frames before the first cold drops hit—a mix of rain and even a little snow. It was a mad dash back to the truck, but worth it for this view.