Royal Meteorological Society Reveals 30 Weather Photographer Finalists

Thirty photographs — picked from more than 5,500 entries worldwide — made the finalist list for the Royal Meteorological Society's 11th Weather Photographer of the Year competition, and public voting closes at 23:59 GMT on November 5.

The shortlist spans 13 countries and, by the Society's own account, an unusually wide meteorological range. Mist rolls over Mallorcan hills. Crepuscular sunbeams rake across bridges. Delicate formations the judges call "icy hearts" build up on mountain mesh fences. A double rainbow arcs cleanly over the Scottish Highlands. And one photographer caught, in a single exposure, a triple lightning bolt striking major New York skyscrapers — the kind of image that makes you wonder how many frames died for it.

The Society says the judging panel selected finalists on three criteria: creativity, the meteorological interest of the photograph, and originality. Subjects range from cloud formations and dramatic light to violent storms and rainbows.

What does the shortlist say about the climate?

A significant strand of this year's list is documentary rather than picturesque. One finalist photograph shows agricultural land in Iran destroyed by fires driven by heat waves. Another records the aftermath of wildfire in the Scottish Cairngorms. A Patagonian image captures collapsing glacial ice. Another shows densely populated communities in Bangladesh entirely engulfed by floodwater.

Professor Liz Bentley, Chief Executive of the RMetS, was direct about the intent. "This competition continues to show us just how powerful photography can be in connecting people with weather and our changing climate," she said. "The incredible images shortlisted this year don't just showcase the breathtaking, dramatic beauty of our skies, they also serve as a critical reminder of the impacts of climate change."

That framing — the sky as both spectacle and evidence — is the quiet argument of the shortlist. Roughly one in seven of the 5,500-plus entries survived to the final 30, a cut of under one percent, and the survivors include as much devastation as beauty.

Who decides the winners?

Two verdicts are coming. The public votes for a "Public Favorite" among the shortlisted images until 23:59 GMT on November 5. Separately, the jury selects the overall and category winners.

Bentley acknowledged the panel's task. "With over 5,500 entries from around the world, our judging panel had an incredibly tough task in shortlisting the images and deciding on the winning images, and we are now delighted to hand over to the public to vote for their favorite," she said.

All winners — jury and public — will be announced on November 17.

Why this competition has staying power

Now in its 11th year, the competition has settled into a formula that works: a scientific society curating imagery that doubles as public engagement with meteorology. The Royal Meteorological Society hosts and organizes the contest, and individual photographers are credited in each image caption.

The format is straightforward — one photograph, one weather event, one consequence — but the best finalists compress the climate debate into a single frame. A triple lightning bolt over Manhattan is spectacle. A flooded Bangladeshi community is statistics made visible.

With voting open only days longer and winners due on November 17, the competition's next test is whether public attention, once gathered around these 30 frames, can be directed toward the conditions they document.