And the winners are (drum roll please)…a telescope, the Smoky Mountains and a stormy night sky.

That seemingly random list represents just some of the scenes captured by the winners of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) “Weather in Focus” photo contest, which sought to acknowledge the best snapshots of weather or the science used to forecast the weather, water availability and flooding.

The winners across four categories came from a total of 2,000 entries of photographs taken between January 1, 2014 and March 31, 2015. They range from a train plowing through swirling snow to a tornado churning up dust in Iowa to the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia.

Here they are:

Professional Submission, First Place: Stars behind the storm, by Brad Goddard (Orion, IL)

Professional Submission, Second Place: A tornado churns up dust in sunset light near Traer, Iowa, by Brad Goddard (Orion, IL)

Professional Submission, Third Place: A tornado crosses the path, Reinbeck, Iowa, by Brad Goddard (Orion, IL)

Professional Submission, Honorable Mention: Fog rolls in from the ocean on a hot summer day, by Robert Raia (Toms River, NJ)

Weather, Water & Climate, First Place: Snow Express, by Conrad Stenftenagel (Saint Anthony, IN)

Weather, Water & Climate, Second Place: Proton arc over Lake Superior, by Ken William (Clio, MI)

Weather, Water & Climate, Third Place: With a Bangm, by Bob Larson (Prescott, AZ)

Weather, Water & Climate, Honorable Mention: Raindrops on a leaf, by Alana Peterson (Maple Lake, MN)

Weather, Water & Climate, Honorable Mention: Fire in the Sky over Glacier National Park, by Sashikanth Chintla (North Brunswick, NJ)

Science in Action, First Place: Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, by Mike Zorger (Falls Church, VA)

Science in Action, Second Place: Photographer captures the aurora, by Christopher Morse (Fairbanks, AK)

Science in Action, Third Place: Atmospheric Research Observatory, by Joseph Phillips (Boulder, CO)

Science in Action, Honorable Mention: Atmospheric Research Observatory, by Joseph Phillips (Boulder, CO)

In the Moment, First Place: Smoky Mountains, by Elijah Burris (Canton, NC)

In the iMoment, Second Place: Spring Captured: Freezing rain attempts to halt spring by Mike Shelby (Elkridge, MD)

In the iMoment, Third Place: Rolling clouds in Lake Tahoe by Christopher LeBoa (San Leandro, CA)