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, August 13, 2009

Ahh, the lovely skies

SKY WATCH FRIDAY time! Though Obama-madness has died down some in my neck of the woods, I am still pretty swamped with stimulus yuck, so I might not get a chance to say hi. Please don't take offense. Thanks for the visit anyhow. Our hosts: Klaus Sandy Ivar Wren Louise Fishing Guy

Thanks, also,to Dot and Tom, who were instrumental in the success of this blogging event. You should definitely come fly with us!

I have spoken about crepuscular rays often. They are what look like rays of light peaking through breaks in the clouds, which are actually light bouncing off dirty particles in the air. Well, what happens when the cloud actually obstructs the light...? Well, you get cloud shadows, and I have talked about those before, but I have never captured as nice of an example as I did yesterday.

Yesterday, I noted that the Storm Prediction Center had issued a mesoscale discussion regarding a likelihood of severe weather in my neck of the woods... they outlined an area that could expect damaging wind and hail. The area that was expecting to get some action is identified here to the right. Notice the storm reports from yesterday... notice any here??? ... or anywhere in the mesoscale discussion area, for that matter????No, I think not! We did have some beautiful clouds, really amazing towers, as the instability revealed itself, but check out the ridiculous radar for yesterday, which shows a clear depiction of the weatherless void that exists around me (the less than fondly dubbed, Dewvoid). Locally, all I saw was a little lightning, nothing happened here... judging by the lightning show, it looked like it all happened north of here, in Meso Mike's neck of the woods. Incidentally, his mom told me she thought it was active down our way. The buck tends to stop at her son... sigh. Here are some amazing sky shots from yesterday though.



It really was spectacular with the striking blue contrasting with the brilliant white climbing desperately to its highest height. I wonder if any of them produced hail. Cumulonimbus clouds are exciting and exotically beautiful to me. That last one would be considered a Cumulonimbus capillatus, which is a cumulonimbus cloud with cirrus-like, fibrous-edged top. Oh, I didn't even mention the hail/rain shaft that I captured. Looks like it could have been hail, but I'm not too sure.

You remember me talking yesterday about the Tropical Depression 2, which prematurely was being called Ana... well, that is typically the kiss of death to a tropical system. I think it's Ma Nature's way of saying... "So, you think you know me, do you? Well, I'll show you..." Check out the image to the upper left... under the Lx, do you see anything...? I think not. The circulation has lost an essential characteristic of tropical cyclone-ness... convection. All the moisture has been dried out of the low pressure system, which will most likely suffocate the system causing it to vanish into nothingness... however, they are still thinking TD2 will become Tropical Storm Ana before eventually dissipating. The next area of concern would be that juicy area off the coast of Africa. The models are still carrying it all the way to the US in about 10 days, as a tropical cyclone. Will it be Ana? Will it be Bill? Who knows??? Stay tuned.

Have a fantabulous day!
~Dewdrop

27 comments:

  1. I have a hurricane Anna up here if you want to have her come visit your I will send her your way
    Carrie

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  2. You have had amazing cloud formations lately. All we have are blue blue and blue :( (LOL)

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  3. I have never seen that! I say that a lot on your blog but it is true! Wonderful first shot in particular!

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  4. That cloud shadow is just extraordinary! I'm going to have to keep my eyes peeled around here and see if I can spot one. Great post, Dew!

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  5. Nice weather post today and SWF.
    Well done.

    Thanks for the visit,
    Troy

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  6. Gorgeous clouds you shot. Stunners all.

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  7. Great post and incredible pictures!!
    Take care and Happy SWF

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  8. Superb collection of cloud shots. The first one is like icebergs.

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  9. Fantastic clouds and such great photos!

    Happy SWF!

    Sylvia

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  10. Very nice shots Dewdrop, I like the shadow one:)

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  11. Glorious as always!
    I'll be reading this again. very informative.
    After the partial solar eclipse, the next day was so humid here.

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  12. Huh - don't care about them coming over here! Leave them in the form we need 'em. Disapated. ;)
    Cheers, Klaus

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  13. Wonderful post. Wonderful pictures.

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  14. Some beautiful storm clouds for sure.
    I have actually reached the point where I can say I need a break from the storms. They have been relentless here in the mountains day after day which is quite unusual and not only do I worry about the burning forests but for the lack of sleep when these storms seem to attack around 1 am.. LOL

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  15. The first looks like a cloud with a bd hair day!. Fantastic clolor and contrast in the others!

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  16. Lovely shots of the clouds and my fav is the first one with the crepuscular rays. Thank you.

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  17. what a great set of photos....

    Gill in Canada

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  18. Oh, these are great cloud photos. The first one is beautiful! I have some big clouds with shadows...wish I could name them.

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  19. Sure has been quiet in the Atlantic this year! It's the middle of August ans we're only talking about Ana and/or Bill? ;-)

    Toronto had a tragic weather event yesterday. Two children, ages 3 and 5, and a babysitter were struck out of the blue by a fireball. They were walking in a field when the lightning struck them. Environment Canada hadn't expected any severe weather.

    The babysitter has already been sent home from hospital and one of the children has been upgraded to "critical." The other child is still alive but not doing all that well.

    Pretty unusual I guess.

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  20. I sure do like what you captured here!

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  21. Your storm clouds are looking pretty impressive. We were just missed by Tropical Storm Felicia -- which was just fine by us.

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  22. Again a very interesting post and great pictures.

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  23. Dew-rific!!!

    Nice Skywatch Entry here, love the information as well, Have a nice SWF.

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  24. So that's what they're called! I know them as silver linings! Great shots.

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  25. Beautiful shot and great information too...Thanks for sharing..Unseen Rajasthan

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  26. Stormy clouds make the BEST captures. They are SO exciting!

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Dew comment, please...