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, December 18, 2008

Weird Weather EVERYWHERE!

Howdy Dew, folks!!! It's time again for a Sky Watch "Friday" post! Please visit Klaus, Sandy, Ivar, Wren, Louise and Fishing Guy's SKY WATCH BLOG to participate in Sky Watch Fridays, which I HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! Thanks to Dot, the mother of this fabulous blogging event, and to the "retired" Tom, who brought it to full bloom. It is so fascinating to see skies from all over the world!!! You should definitely climb aboard the SWF Express! Today's picture is an attempt at curbing some of my "SDS" (No, not the Students Democratic Society! I am talking about Supercell Deprivation Syndrome, thanks, Steve!), which is a funny way of describing the storm chaser's response to weatherless-ness. (Yes, yes, Mike, I know that weather is whatever the weather happens to be-- active or not.) I guess I should say a response to ACTIVE weatherless-ness. I miss the severe stuff. This demonstrates a swelling cumulus on the horizon, which is the first sign of instability, a key ingredient for turmoiled weather.

Incidentally, I caught my best shot of lightning to date that day... and lightning struck my neighbor's back yard...
Speaking of weather.... (lol) What is with the weather this year?! We started out with a monstrous tornado outbreak in FEBRUARY?! That kicked off a memorable season of crazy outbreaks, many large and destructive tornadoes, all over the place, including downtown Atlanta. We had horrific floods, devastating much of the midwest. We had crippling fires. We had a significant number of US landfalling hurricanes, with one wiping Bolivar Peninsula off the map. We are now seeing a parade of snow and or ice storms slamming a large portion of the country, record low temps, record snowfall amounts... New Orleans saw a December snow, with 1" of snow falling December 11th. Yesterday... get this, for the 4th time in recorded history Las Vegas had a measurable December snowfall, busting out the record set in the 60's with their 3.4" of snow. Meanwhile (back on the ranch), here in the southeast, we are enjoying (sorry, dear cold friends) record high temperatures, quickly approaching 80 degrees, thanks to an embedded high pressure system forcing much of the icky weather to our north (gee, darn). It feels more like late spring than almost winter. Now, I can't help but wonder what next year has in store for us...

Have a lovely day, whatever your weather...
~Dewdrop

36 comments:

  1. Dew, it's just Mother Nature doing her thing... keeping human life on this continent exciting. Any bets on how much snow OSNW3 will see from now until next Wednesday? Three consecutive systems are supposed to dump on us. I have a guess for the one coming in overnight tonight... :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Snow in Vegas, and snow dusting in 1000 feet above sea level here in the SF bay area, very unusual, but welcome. I have to hose down my car before I drove off in 33 degree weather. I love our wintry weather here.

    Are those clouds behind the trees?

    Lovely colors.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mother Nature can't make up her mind. In the seventies and then the twenties. I guess we have to take the bitter with the better.

    Troy

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great shot. Clouds looks like some dragon to me:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Very active cloud scene! :-)

    Weather here's been gray in gray. Dull gray sky. Gray everywhere. City enveloped in gray light in the middle of the day. One could sing the Blues, or fall into them. Or turn the Christmas lights on. Which they do. Thank heaven, thanks taxpayers! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Very dramatic - the softer clouds and then that big beam cutting across (speeding Nascar sound) into those thunderheads - if that's the correct term for them...after all I'm talking to an expert!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wonderful picture! I love the colours and the light.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Awesome awesome shot, I also clicked on your link and checked out the lightning shot, very well done.

    Cheers!
    Regina In Pictures

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ana said just what I was going to say--I see dragons! Such a wonderful and dramatic sky you captured: I'm so glad you shared it!
    Merry Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yep - weather is crazy! We enjoy the 80's and then some down here in FL.
    5 days ago it was close to freezing.
    What did you dew?
    Cheers, Klaus

    ReplyDelete
  11. @ Dewdrop and O/T:
    You are right,
    there are gray rings in my gray sky pictures. No rings in the original picture, though. Must have something to do with the way I resize the pictures, always the same method, yet every now and then I do get those rings. I understand whay too little to be able to figure out how to correct this.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great shot! Happy SWF.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great shot, also love that lightning shot, wish I could capture that.

    ReplyDelete
  14. You know, Jennifer! It really is time for you to share some of that warm weather...PLEEEEASE!

    Happy Sky Watch!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Really gorgeous shots. Breathless colors and they almost look as though they're boiling, so active! Always enjoy your photos! Thanks for sharing. Happy Holidays!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Great shot, beautiful color on this pictures!

    ReplyDelete
  17. This photo should have satisfied your SDS along with lightning.
    I believe the snow is heading your way.

    Finally seeing sunshine after three days of gray, wind, rain, sleet, snow....

    ReplyDelete
  18. Awesome photo, Miss Dew! The colors are magnificent!

    Thanks for visiting my SWF post.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Fighting dragons, magnificent colours and an eductaion. Always a fun packed bumper post.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Great shot. Beautiful colors and clouds.
    Weather is hard in Brazil this Spring: rain, deaths. Environment must be respected.

    ReplyDelete
  21. That's a nice shot of a winter sky, thanks. It's an unusually cold night here in Kuwait, right now it is 1 deg C.

    My SWF post of a warmer desert is put up at:
    http://indicainq8.wordpress.com
    - celine

    ReplyDelete
  22. wow ! so great about you . your creativity is very beautiful and different. I love your arts and of course your blog too much.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Great shot and yes the weather is crazy this year. Especially in Las Vegas!!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Wonderful sky here! Weather is changing fast here but today I enjoyed the blue skies!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Beautiful clouds formation.
    Happy SW Friday!

    ReplyDelete
  26. OK, after that litany of weather woes, I'm beginning to get frightened. LOL Beautiful clouds. :) Happy SWF.

    ReplyDelete
  27. WOW! I checked out your lightning shot as well and WOW again. A magnificent shot of multi-forked lightning with that horizontal streak through the clouds as well.
    I am totally impressed.
    Happy Christmas.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I enjoy your love affair with the sky. Thanks for being a continued source of beautiful photos and good info.

    I am shocked by the snowfall in the Southwest. I wish we had a little more in the Northeast!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Great to see the action and the colours in this fascinating picture!
    Nice to read your weather overview.
    Happy X-mas!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Great shots. I really like the colors.

    And I'm quite envious of your warm weather. We woke up to find everything outdoors coated in ice this morning, and now the winds are gusting. Brrrrrr!

    ReplyDelete
  31. I'm not really surprised at all with the weather here as much as everyone else is... I mean gosh, it IS winter and um... yeh, so it's cold. LOL... and there's snow! For me it's relatively normal even tho some folks SWEAR it's way too cold... bah! I am freezing but really, I'm relieved in some sense because it's fantastic for the mountain pine beetle! YAY, it's what is needed to hopefully kill it off!! I love my mountains and the trees... and this cold snap is awesome!! So please you guys, pray for the cold to continue here in the mountains otherwise you will lose precious tress and you do not want that! Our forests are already dieing.
    Mountain Pine Beetles
    Merry Christmas!
    ~Michele~

    ReplyDelete
  32. Pretty, looks like you painted it:)

    ReplyDelete
  33. Dew: Neat capture of the storm clouds. We have had a lot of gray skies during the last two weeks. You have some wonderful formations in your sky.
    Have a great Christmas season.

    ReplyDelete
  34. hard to find colors and clouds in the same sky around here - especially if the color isn't gray. Or there's grey. And gray. Lots of it! And rain. Yuck. Happy SWF - and a very Merry Christmas!!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Sorry about your weather withdrawal. At least it hasn't affected your photos - that's a beautiful sky shot. Can't wait to see the personal best photo of lightening.

    ReplyDelete

Dew comment, please...