Yesterday, we had a spectacular cloud show in the early evening. This was preceding another cold front. A warm, humid wind was blowing very strongly from the southwest.
There were many layers of clouds torn about by the varying levels of wind. The lighter clouds in the background were high enough to catch the sunlight.
Here you can clearly see the path of light, ranging from lines here and there in the distance to the tiny stratus filament in the foreground colored an orange brown.
This is what the sky looked like to the west. Because it was evening, the sky beyond the clouds was pale…
…while lack of light mixed a darker shade of blue in the east.
From the northeast, a tremendous jet flew in. I envy the passengers. Can you imagine seeing the clouds from their lofty vantage point?
Swelling cumulus with a gold lining. Caused by the same scattering of light as a silver lining, but because the light has to travel though more layers of atmosphere in the evening, it appears golden to the eye.
Looking to the north-east. This cloud was wonderfully backlit.
The clouds were feeding off the rich moisture in the air and the warmth from the sun. Cumulus clouds were erupting to immense heights everywhere I looked, fast enough that I had a hard time keeping up with them. I didn’t know where to point my camera next.
You can really see just how huge these clouds were. I dislike cold weather, but I must admit it makes for a wonderful show.
The top of this cloud is small enough for the light to penetrate it. It almost appears to be glowing.
Here is a swelling cumulus giant - about half the size of the one in the above picture - that was completely cast in shadow. Note the difference in color from the last picture to this.
There’s that high peak again. This cloud was so large, almost everything east was dark in its shadow.
Including these clouds, except for the high alto cumulus above.
More photos of the high cloud. The higher it went, the more golden the crest became. It reminded me of the giants waves C.S. Lewis describes in his novel Perelandra.
I had to laugh when I took this picture - there’s a face in the cloud! I think it looks a bit a like a lion, or like some creature from a fairy-tale.
Finally, the swelling cumulus cast in shadow rose high enough to catch some sunlight of its own. Contrasted with the low stratus filaments below, it made a pretty picture.
I noticed a gleaming white speck between the clouds as they floated overhead.
It was the moon.
The next picture reminded me of a Japanese song I once heard…
In the moonlight, I felt your heart
Quiver like a bowstring’s pulse.
In the moon’s pure light, you looked at me;
Nobody knows your heart.
When the sun has gone, I see you,
Beautiful and haunting, but cold
Like the blade of a knife, so sharp, so sweet;
Nobody knows your heart.
All of your sorrow, grief and pain
Locked away in the forest of the night…
Your secret heart belongs to the world
Of the things that sigh in the dark,
Of the things that cry in the dark…
About an hour later, the moon was really shining.
It was hard to photograph the cloud forms with the darkness closing in. I am not a good nighttime photographer.
In this last picture, you can see the first curtains of rain beginning to fall. It stormed all night, and is still raining as of this afternoon.
