On the stormy evening of May 15, 2024, travel photographer Carlos Monforte stood on the rooftop of the Pinnacle＠Duxton.

Despite the impending thunderstorm, Monforte patiently stood with his equipment, waiting to capture the perfect moment when lightning zipped across the urban skyline.

An electrifying evolution

Speaking to Mothership, Monforte stated that the thunderstorm was moving from the Bedok area towards Orchard Road and Tanjong Pagar.

Between 5:15pm and 6pm, Carlos captured a total of four instances of lightning.

This he achieved via a pre-recording function that captures images for half a second at 30 frames per second. Monforte describes this as having "half a second of advantage".

Using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, he then edited and blended the shots taken from each lightning stage into one composite image, beautifully portraying the evolution of the thunderstorm.

Each image is a composite of between seven to 12 photos.

In just half an hour, the skyline appeared to transform dramatically:

Monforte described to Mothership that the thunderstorm had inched towards him eventually, and he had to brave the rain to capture the final shots.

Despite being "soaking wet", Monforte added, "The joy of captur[ing] the perfect lightning or the perfect storm is one of the best experiences I can ever ask for."

Monforte is part of CloudSpotting & SkySpotting Singapore, a public Facebook group, where fellow photography enthusiasts share storm updates and exchange stunning photographs of local thunderstorms.

These photos he shared have since garnered over 350 shares.

Storm-chasing in S'pore

Having been based in Singapore for 15 years, Monforte described Singapore as "one of the thunderstorm capitals of the world".

Singapore has one of the highest occurrences of lightning in the world.

As its located near the equator, the warm and humid tropical conditions are highly favourable for the development of thunderstorms, The Straits Times reported.

According to Statista, the country came in first with 163 lightning events per square kilometre in 2021, followed by Macao with 135 lightning events per square kilometre.

Top photo from @lightjunker / IG