Syosset, NY - September 12, 2016 - Syosset, NY resident, Greg Gulbransen, has been selected as the grand prize winner of the 2016 The Weather Channel “It’s Amazing Photo Contest.” His photo of a polar bear in the frozen Hudson Bay in Manitoba, Canada, titled “Fire on Ice”, has secured him the top spot in the contest with a prize of $15,000. For more of Gulbransen's photography, follow him on Instagram.

Gulbransen spent four years saving and planning for a photography trip to Manitoba, Canada where he captured this year's grand prize winning photo. In November, the Hudson Bay freezes and, if you time it just right, you can watch as the polar bears migrate onto the frozen waters.

"The weather turned that day," Gulbransen said. "It got really really cold and all of a sudden, we woke up and went outside and saw the sun was coming up. The temperature changed so rapidly that the water was evaporating like that. We had this amazing fire-and- ice situation. It didn’t last very long, maybe 20 minutes. I just knew it was magical."

In the third annual “It’s Amazing Out There” photo contest, sponsored by Toyota, The Weather Channel invited weather enthusiasts to submit photos that celebrate the amazing world out there in the categories of adventure, nature, and weather. The Weather Channel received nearly 70K impressive images from photographers – amateurs and professionals alike – for the contest and it was narrowed down to 64 finalists. Check out the photos from all the finalists here.

Other winners included:

• Second Place: Dale Johnson - “Jomblang Cave, Indonesia"
• Third Place: Derek Burdeny - “Nature's Fury”
• Fan Favorite (Week 1): David Eppeley - “Ozzie”
• Fan Favorite (Week 2): Tony Bendele - "Lightning on the Susquehanna River"
• Fan Favorite (Week 3): Walter Dorsett - "Beauty After the Storm"
• Fan Favorite (Week 4): Michael Zuccato Jr. - “Storms Coming"