Tag: clouds

Photography

The Sky Above

Shelly

The weather yesterday was turbulent. High temperature and lots of atmospheric instability led to an impressive storm system blowing through in the late afternoon. Owen County and Monroe County were both under tornado warnings, so I decided to stay at work until the storms passed. I’m glad I did, because as I drove home, the sky was amazing. As I was heading out of town, I noticed a patch of mammatus clouds. I tried to get a couple of shots from my car, while traffic was stopped, but they didn’t turn out very well. Luckily, the clouds held together until I got to a place where I could safely pull over.

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25 May 2006, Curry Pike, Monroe County, Indiana

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25 May 2006, Intersection of Ratliff Rd. and Starnes Rd., Monroe County, Indiana

A patch of mammatus clouds had begun to pull apart into elongated forms. The frothy clouds in the lower left made the sky look like a turbulent ocean, reminding me of a nineteenth-century shipwreck painting.

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Sunset 25 May 2006

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Eastern Sky at Sunset 25 May 2006

The sunset was reflecting off the tops of clouds in the east, and the pink glow showed through the clouds.

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Belt of Venus 22 May 2006

Photography

Mammatus Clouds

Shelly

Earlier this spring, we had a spectacular storm move through. It passed slowly, with lots and lots of lightning. I got a few pictures, but only one was half-way presentable.

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Storm with Lightning and Mammatus Clouds 31 March 2006, Owen County, Indiana

If you look really closely, you can see the bottom curves of mammatus clouds that formed on the back side of the storm. They’re visible as pillowy shapes descending from the mass of black across the top of the frame, backlit by the lightning strike.

The reason I’m reposting this image is that today’s Earth Science Picture of the Day is a photo of mammatus clouds, taken on the same day, of the same storm system, in Avon, Indiana. Avon is west of Indy, and north of where I live.

And, for anyone who wants to be ubergeeky, here’s a cloud identification atlas.

Photography

Lightning

Shelly

I was kind of bummed because I hadn’t gotten pictures of the lightning show last night. I tried taking a few, but I assumed they weren’t turning out, so I gave up. Now I’m really kicking myself. This one isn’t great, but I expect I could’ve gotten some decent shots if I’d stuck with it. Hrmph.

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You can’t really tell it from this photo, but it does hint at the mammatus clouds that formed on the back side of the storm. Every time a sustained bolt of lightning lit up the interior of the cell, the mammatus formations would glow. It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.

There are some gorgeous (and creepy!) examples of mammatus formations here and here and here. The last page is especially impressive. I’d probably pee my pants if I saw something like that in the sky.

Photography

Happy Little Clouds

Shelly

When I got up this morning, there was a thin layer of wet snow on the ground. The sky has been grim and the wind has been howling all day. Yuck. Today’s weather really doesn’t warrant close examination, so I thought I’d share some photos I took last week.

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Hole Punch Cloud with Fallstreak, Owen County, Indiana

I took these at around 5pm, as I was leaving to take Rory for his final check-up at the vet. I wish I’d taken my camera with me, as the sun was gorgeous when it finally set. Unfortunately, I left it at home. I got a few good pictures of the pre-setting sun, though, so I can’t complain too much.

I always hate the onset of winter, not because of the cold weather, but because of the short days. Even though the days begin to lengthen when winter officially starts, it doesn’t seem to help. It just takes so damned long for the change to be noticeable. Being on flex time helps. Before I changed my schedule, it was dark when I left for work and dark when I returned home. Now, it’s only dark in the mornings. Having a little more light keeps me from going completely stir crazy.

And, on that note, I’m off to help move around some furniture next door, then cut up bread for tomorrow’s stuffing. Mmmm. I can live without turkey, but Thanksgiving without stuffing is just wrong.

Photography

A Brief Reprieve

Shelly

We (along with folks all over the northern hemisphere, it seems) have been in the midst of a heat wave. It’s been hot and humid and generally too disgusting to do much of anything. Last night, though, a cold front moved through. Right before the accompanying storm hit us, the temperature started to drop and the dogs decided–at long last!–that it was cool enough to play. I was too transfixed by watching them to get any pictures, but there was lots of biteyface and Olympic level zooming.

After the dogs had taken the edge on their pent up energy, I went in to get my camera. A hole had opened up in the thick cloud cover, with the setting sun reflecting off a small crescent of cloud tops at the edge of the opening.

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I had no sooner come inside from taking the above photos than I noticed that the sky to the east had turned dark blue, the sky above had turned dirty dark grey, and the sky to the west had turned a glowing brown color. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. I wish I’d gotten photos, but we were getting so many lightning strikes that I decided going outside would be tempting fate. Storms scare the living hell out of me, but I’m also fascinated by them. I stood in the front door and watched the lightning repeatedly strike the ridge across from me.

Thankfully, the storm moved through quickly. The lightning, while nerve wracking, cleaned the air. The smell was heavenly. We got a little bit of M&M sized hail, but nothing too worrisome. Unfortunately, we also didn’t get much rain out of it. It poured for about 15 minutes, but then it slacked off and soon quit entirely. We need a slow, soaking rain, but it doesn’t look like we’re going to get one anytime soon.

The cooler weather should last through the weekend, so as soon as the grass dries I can actually get some yard work done. Um, yay?

Photography

More Clouds

Shelly

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I took this a couple of weeks ago. We’d been having crappy weather, but toward the end of the day, the clouds started to break up. I was hoping they’d clear enough in the west for a good sunset, but they didn’t. The consolation prize was this view to the southeast. Not quite the picture postcard I’d been hoping for, but sometimes you get what you get.