Last weekend, as an EF-2 tornado swept a path of destruction across downtown Atlanta, local photographer Shane Durrance was on the roof of his condominium building with his camera. Listening to the local news, he took the photo below just as the meteorologist from 11Alive news was giving out a tornado warning.

Later, Durrance sent the photo to 11Alive and said he believed he had missed capturing the tornado, but after the meteorologist reviewed the photo he assured Durrance that he had indeed gotten the shot he was seeking.

The picture shows a light-gray vertical strip of what looks like clouds connecting the cityscape to the larger clouds above. That is the actual tornado, according to 11Alive’s weatherman. He said it didn’t look like the usual sort of funnel cloud because it was embedded in rainshowers at the time of the photograph.

What a fantastic picture of both the beauty and fierceness of nature.