Light Up the Night

Dallas photographers exploit cool thunderhead cloud for visual thrills

A cool and captivating "thunderhead" cloud blossomed in the early evening sky in Dallas on March 27, transfixing drivers, photographers and videographers across North Texas. Part of a storm brewing east of Dallas, the cloud began building at about 8 pm and provided an exciting lightning show for nearly 90 minutes.

Videographer Matt Johnson, who dabbles in time-lapse photography as a hobby, said he began shooting at about 8:15 pm.

"My friend Stephen texted me, and said, 'Bro, this cloud is awesome,'" Johnson says. "I ran inside and grabbed all my stuff and was out the door in three minutes. I ran to a park near my house in Garland and set up my camera. It turned out pretty cool."

Johnson has a better-than-average awareness of weather conditions because his father is a pilot.

"He knows all about weather, so I got the weather bug from him," Johnson says. "I could tell it had to be a 30- or 50-mile high cloud.

Well-known Dallas photographer David Worthington grabbed a shot from the west levee, saying, "I wanna thank my good friend Steve Kowolski for rousting me out of my cave to get out and get this shot."

The cloud's mountainous shape and stunning white appearance made it look more like an iceberg in Antarctica than a puff of moisture in the sky. But what made it most exciting was the nonstop electrical activity, with streaks of white that illuminated it for nearly an hour.

The technical name for the cloud was a "dry convective thunderstorm." Rain never actually fell, but it made for an exciting visual come nightfall, as seen in this time-lapse video.

Dallas Storm Timelapse // March 27, 2014 from Matt Johnson @ WhoIsMatt.com on Vimeo.

Photographer Matt Johnson snapped photos and video of the storm from a park near his house.

Photo by Matt Johnson

Photographer Matt Johnson snapped photos and video of the storm from a park near his house.

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Weed News

Texas AG Ken Paxton sues Dallas over decriminalization of marijuana

Photo courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife

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The City of Dallas has been sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for its efforts to decriminalize marijuana.

According to a release, Paxton has sued the city for adopting a city charter amendment that would decriminalize marijuana-related offenses and prohibit police from enforcing Texas law.

That amendment was Proposition R, or Dallas Freedom Act, which decriminalizes possession of four ounces of marijuana or less. Voters passed the amendment in the November 5 election, with 67 percent voting in favor.

The lawsuit, filed against the Dallas City Council, alleges that Proposition R is unconstitutional and violates Texas drug laws criminalizing any amount of marijuana.

Paxton says that cities can't "pick and choose which state laws to follow." He's proposing a permanent injunction to stop Proposition R from going into effect.

"The City of Dallas has no authority to override Texas drug laws or prohibit the police from enforcing them," says Paxton in a statement. "This is a backdoor attempt to violate the Texas Constitution, and any city that tries to constrain police in this fashion will be met swiftly with a lawsuit by my office.”

Before the recent election, possession of two to four ounces of marijuana could result in a punishment of 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Ground Game Texas, the activist nonprofit that has also helped get marijuana decriminalization on the ballot in elections across Texas, first got the issue on the ballot in July with the necessary 50,000 signatures.

Dallas is not the only city to be sued; Paxton also filed lawsuits against five other cities in Austin, Denton, Elgin, Killeen, and San Marcos in January for their ballots and policies decriminalizing marijuana.

Both Austin and San Marcos had a judge overturn their cases, according to a FOX 4 report.

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