The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
-Psalm 19:1

Do you know that God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash?
-Job 37:15



Thursday, November 13, 2008

I just love the autumn sky!!!!

Howdy Dew, folks!!! It's Sky Watch "Friday" time!! Please visit Klaus, Sandy, Ivar, Wren, Louise and Fishing Guy's SKY WATCH BLOG to participate in Sky Watch Fridays, which I HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! Dot, the mother of this fabulous blogging event, was really onto something when she brainstormed this baby!!! And a huge thank you to newly "retired" Tom, the one who brought the concept to full bloom. It is so fascinating to see skies from all over the world!!! I want to take a moment and thank everyone for their kind comments and thanks to the team for allowing my lessons to host the SWF event. It is such an honor to be able to share my passion with everyone. This week, I have chosen a typical south Georgia fall sky for your viewing pleasure.As if the amazing color palette of the changing leaves, the cooled down temperatures, remnants of tropical flair ups, and potential for exciting severe weather weren't enough, fall offers an incredible sky show locally. You see, in autumn, the cool air close to the ground is still much warmer than the very cold air up high in the atmosphere. Cirrus clouds, which are a common feature in our fall sky, are formed way up high in the atmosphere, where it is very, very cold and are actually formed with tiny ice crystals rather than water droplets, like other clouds. Cirrus clouds occur in warm air which is being slowly lifted over a large area by an approaching cold front.

Contrails, which is actually short for condensation trails, are visible trails of condensed water vapor made by the exhaust of aircraft engines. As the hot exhaust gases cool in the surrounding air they may precipitate a cloud of microscopic water droplets. If the air is cold enough, such as it tends to be in fall, this trail will comprise tiny ice crystals. That is why, contrails tend to form when there are lots of cirrus clouds. The long lasting contrails will result when the air in the higher atmosphere is supersaturated with water vapor, which causes the jet exhaust condensation to condense yet more water vapor from the air; therefore, contrails are significant contributors to cirrus cloud formation.
~Source 1
~Source 2
What does that all mean??? Well, for me, it translates to beautiful sunrises and breathtaking sunsets. My contrail sky yesterday struck me, but I didn't have my camera with me... (yes, it's true, sad, but true) that's what inspired me to share this shot today.

Aside from that, we actually saw some rain last night... for the first time in a long while, which was a nice welcome relief. Today, we fall within the outlined thunderstorm area, but nothing is expected to fall within the parameters for a severe classification, so basically, much needed and appreciated rain in a very poorly presented fashion. Fortunately, the lack of severe weather is keeping the tornado trend from becoming a reality. Lives and homes, so far, have been spared. Whew.

Side note: I would not recommend putting a Milky Way candy bar in the freezer to chill it unless you want it frozen... doesn't take long... ouch.

Have a lovely day!
~Dewdrop

48 comments:

  1. A contrail sky is always so beautiful.

    Perfect SWF and the info, as always, is much appreciated.

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  2. It really has been the quietest 2nd severe weather season i can remember. I have not had one storm since early September. 3 days of rain starting today here. I guess I'm off duty until we get some snow, which won't happen.

    I loved your pics from the FSU game by the way!

    SCM

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  3. Oh so beautiful. Ice crystals ha! I learn a lot.

    This is such a fab sky, am green with envy, but I see them through you.

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  4. Professor Dewd . . . Lovely post. Still. Again. I had some of your clouds over my house sometime last week. Beautiful. What would convince you to put a candy bar in the freezer?! EAT IT WARM - it's nice and gooshy then. Happy SWF!

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  5. Another dew-riffic post for sky watch.

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  6. Fantastic photo with magical light!

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  7. I'm so glad to read you FINALLY got some rain. YAY! The beautiful sunrises and sunsets are a bonus. ;-) Happy Sky Watch!

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  8. Such a perfect sky!~Mine is, HERE.

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  9. You are a sky expert (photo and weather)indeed!!

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  10. drew-rific!!!!

    Nice shot!!! it is perfectly fascinating... love the sky...

    check out mine HERE

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  11. I'm thrilled to have found your site via Skywatch Friday, verrrry informative. I will be back. On another note, try just putting your Milky Way in the cheese compartment of your fridge the next time. Here in Canada the fridge bar of choice is a Mars bar. TGIF

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  12. this is lovely, dewdrop!

    My Skywatch entry is HERE!

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  13. I just love those high skies, wild and a little ragged (but in a beautiful way!)

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  14. Dew: Beautiful post and a great sky with that sideways V.
    I might know you would it Milky Ways. What else for a sky watcher. You tried to dew what the clouds are made of in the Fall. Sorry, I had to.

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  15. Gorgeous Skywatch, with amazing colours. Some photos are so great I could stare at them for hours.

    See you.

    Marit

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  16. Such a lovely sky: good luck with the storms!

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  17. Excellent shot as always. Thanks for sharing!

    Cheers!
    Regina In Pictures

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  18. Wow, this is really stunning. Love the wispy clouds.

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  19. I love both elements to your sky watch. The lovely shaped ice clouds and the light grey whispy threads. They compliment each other.
    Thank you for sharing.

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  20. Romantic and lovely sky!

    Your post has a great felling!

    Luiz

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  21. That's a beautiful sky and I'm glad you got some rain. I've appreciated rain so much after the drought we had last year.

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  22. Very pretty wispy clouds shot! So pretty!

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  23. What can one say " its DEW-triffic".

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  24. A very nice sky shot, and great info too.
    I couldn't eat a candy bar of any kind right now unless it was melted.
    Happy SWF.

    The next sky posted is other worldly.

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  25. Love those clouds! And again I learned something new!

    My Sky Watch Photos are posted Here and Here

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  26. Beautiful picture and yep been there done that with the Milky Way - sympathy!

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  27. Always learning here and always such imagunative shots. I mentioned Tom too today. I miss Wigger's world.

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  28. Dewdrop, the loveliness of this photo is even more breath-taking when enlarged. I hope you get some rain soon and I hope you didn't break a tooth on that candy bar!

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  29. What a gorgeous sky! Very nice and happy SWF!

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  30. Gorgeous! Thank you! Happy SWF!

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  31. You seem to have some nice cross-currents up there. Could be quite tricky for bellooning. Nice shot.

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  32. Love you sky!!! I'll have to remember that about a Milky Way, although seldom do I keep candy long enough to put it in the freezer!!

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  33. Great photo's & amazing color. We have red in sky here tonight.

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  34. love the swooshy clouds...great shot.

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  35. If that is because of contrails, good for them. Your picture is beautiful!

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  36. Very beautiful photo for SWF. Have a nice weekend.

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  37. So beautiful! I really love this shot! Happy skywatching! :)

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  38. Gorgeous sky! And now I wish I had a milky way.

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  39. Lovely..I felt like cloud gazing immediately

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  40. Hi Dew... ;o)
    Another great posting from you my friend... and thank you for the mention in your post.

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  41. your picture is so beautiful!

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  42. Great shot, amazing colours!

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  43. Cirrus clouds definitely make beautiful skies.

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  44. I am waiting for a sky like this to photograph. Beautiful.

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  45. How nice to live somewhere that has skies like this in November.

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  46. Your typical south Georgia sky is beautiful! Lovely SWF post.

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Dew comment, please...