Flying through colorful clouds

We've had such outstanding sunsets this fall. Here's another one for your enjoyment. I loved the progression of the jet through the clouds.

Interesting clouds

Sunday evening we were under a tornado watch for a short time. There was only a 20% chance, and the watch was soon lifted. The sky remained clear except for these somewhat unusual clouds. I guess that's where the 20% potential came from. I'm glad they didn't produce anything!

I deliberately took this first pic just for the humidity effect. It was extremely humid (not to mention that it got well over 90° that day!), but not quite as humid as it looks here. This was the result of it being so humid that my lens cap fogged over.

I stood around waiting for it to clear for at least 5 minutes, but it showed no sign of doing so, so I did something I hated to do - I wiped the moisture off with my shirt... very carefully to avoid damaging the lens.

Then I got this shot. I don't know if those clouds even qualified as thunderheads, but they sure were tall!

They finally just drifted away.

Amazing cloud formations

Late Saturday afternoon as I was mowing, I noticed a huge line of clouds that stretched clear across the horizon from north to south, heading our way. The first view was pretty amazing, but I didn't dare stop mowing to grab the camera for fear I wouldn't get done before the rain arrived. So I finished mowing and then went for the camera. I wish I'd thought to take panoramic shots so you could see the whole line of clouds at once, but... too late now. It was also hard to narrow down the shots, because they all seemed incredible. So here are a few, the first four being somewhat of a scan across the sky. The rest are zoomed in shots of the various formations. Click any image to enlarge. 

I was impressed with the streaks of light, wispy clouds in front of the huge thunderheads.

It sure seemed like we'd be getting a pretty good storm out of those clouds, and it even looked like it on the radar. But they dissipated enough by the time they got here that all we got was a little bit of rain! Prayers were answered.

Indescribable!

I have to interrupt my "golden hour" photo series. These pics would actually fit in there, since they were taken during 'that hour', just on a different day. But the scene was so awesome that it deserves to be set apart. I couldn't even think of a title for it.

These photos were taken Wednesday evening. It was so lovely outside, and I was gathering stuff out of the garden in preparation for some rainy, cold days ahead. I'd finished up and as I turned to head to the house with my cart of produce, the view was incredible! I left the cart behind and ran for the house to get the camera, hoping it didn't go away before I captured it. I was in luck, and here you are:

The pictures don't even do it justice, but they give you an idea.

After the sun had disappeared, I turned to go back to the house and my garden cart, and this is what I saw in the other direction:

Quite majestic, huh? All of it!!

More cool clouds

When I first noticed this out the window, the little cloud above the silo looked like some kind of animal, but it was changing quickly and I didn't catch it in time to show you.

These other clouds looked like something was brewing...

... but unfortunately they didn't bring any rain. At least they didn't bring any storm, either.

Interesting clouds

I took these pictures yesterday morning as an area of rain was moving in. The clouds were moving across the sky pretty fast, and that straight whitish line in the first photo went clear across the sky, but by the time I got from a window on one side of the house, grabbed the camera and headed out the door, it had changed into this:

A few seconds later it looked like this above the cattle shed:

Take note of that little dark area above the silo. Here's another shot, seconds later:

Kind of weird, huh? But they passed through quickly, dumped some rain, and it was over. Not stormy or anything. Just interesting.

That's a lot of mares!

Last Friday was a stupendous day, weather-wise! As I drove home from town, I couldn't help noticing the lovely sky with all its mare's tail clouds. I don't think I've ever seen so many "tails" at one time before. I of course had to grab the camera as soon as I got home. Here's the sky as it looked from right to left. (Click any photo to enlarge.)

Those mares must've been having a lot of fun, frisking about!

I took the pics with the intention of putting them together in a panorama, so I tried to keep the camera at the same level for each one. Apparently I didn't do so well. :)  But here's the panorama as it went together. At least the program did a nice job of blending them! Be sure to click on this one to enlarge it!

Clouds

This post contains NO cats! :)

We called an intermission from our movie (War Horse) last night so I could dish up some ice cream to follow our pizza. When I got upstairs, I glanced out the kitchen window and saw the most unusual cloud formations. There was no storminess or anything. As you can see, there was clear sky and sunshine behind them. 

Click the photos to enlarge for a better view.

Pretty cool, huh?

In case you're wondering how I liked the movie, I'd say it was 'okay'. Grandpa probably liked it better than I did. I never have liked war movies... but the horse part was good. In fact, the horse was an INCREDIBLE actor!

Unless something unexpected comes up, tomorrow's post won't contain any cats, either. ;)

Straight line design & an experiment

I thought the cloud design was really interesting last evening. I've never noticed so many clouds in such straight lines before. Kinda weird.

As I was preparing this post, I was wishing I could put the three photos together into one panoramic view. Google to the rescue! A quick search found me a free "starter" program that would do just that! So I downloaded it and gave it a try. Here is the resulting picture. Click on it to enlarge it.

Better planned out photography would've produced a better result, I'm sure, but I wasn't thinking of this when I took the pics. I'll have to do some more experimenting later. Maybe I can show you our whole farm in one view, huh? Ha!

Another guest post... sorta

These photos were sent to me by my friend Mark, the displaced Minnesotan who now lives in Fresno, CA. He REALLY misses snow and cold. So a couple weeks ago he sent me these pics that he took out there, I guess so I can feel bad that I live here and not there. ;-) No, really he was explaining what his 47-mile drive was like heading home from up the mountain:

"Fresno is and was cloudy and overcast with the temperature in the low 40’s, but just up the mountain at 4,000 ft. and above it is clear, sunny and warm. The temperature at 5,000 ft. yesterday was 55 degrees and snow was melting. This weather phenomenon is call an “inversion layer” where the cold air gets trapped in the valley by the cloud layer and the high pressure system holds the cold air down. So the clouds never burn off and we are cold and damp and the mountains are sunny, warm and full of snow."

This was his view from the highway:

Looks like a frothy ocean, doesn't it?

What an incredible view!

As he drove down, you can see that it was really a cloud layer, or fog.

Look how he's driving right down into it:

And we know what it's like to drive in fog:

(Click any photo to enlarge.)

Awesome photos, huh? Thanks, Mark! Somehow, I'm not convinced to move out there, though, despite the view and the warmer temps. I'm not a lover of fog. I'll stay here and continue to complain about the snow and cold. ;-)