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, October 29, 2009

Iridescence in the sky

SKY WATCH FRIDAY time! Welcome all sky fans!!! I might not have time to respond to you, but I will try my best to visit!!!

Our hosts: Klaus Sandy Sylvia 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!

Oh boy, have I got a treat for you! I actually shot it this morning. It was such a joy to catch a glimpse once again of yet another fairly uncommon phenomena. I have researched cloud iridescence in the past, but I have never witnessed it first-hand, that I can recall. Cloud iridescence occurs when light (generally it occurs in the clouds close to the sun's location in the sky) hits small individual water droplets or even small ice crystals and the iridescence (like a smudged rainbow in the clouds)is a diffraction phenomenon, where light is apparently bending around the small water droplets and spreading out its waves past small openings, not to be confused with the refraction phenomenon, where light's direction is changed due to a change in velocity, such as when light encounters a large impenetrable area, creating an almost angled reflection. Such refraction occurs when light hits larger quantities of water and will tend to generate a halo, arcs or perhaps a rainbow. Those are different effects. Diffraction is almost a smudging of light, where refraction displaces its original path.

Cloud iridescence or irisation is the occurrence of colors in a cloud not dissimilar to those seen in oil films on puddles. It is fairly uncommon phenomena and is usually observed in altocumulus, cirrocumulus and lenticular clouds but very rarely in Cirrus clouds.
In my case, the cloud iridescence occurred in cirrocumulus clouds. To read more about cloud iridescence, feel free to check out this link. These little love letters from God thrill my heart.

In weather, a storm system that dropped feet of snow (I hate that word) in some places in and around Colorado, has now created a severe weather scenario in the plains. The front has turned into a squall line of severe weather for some, as it races across the country as a virtual wall of wind and rain.

Have a beautiful day!
~Dewdrop

43 comments:

  1. The first one is glorious in soft colors like a tiny rainbows.
    Magnificent skies!
    Thank you for sharing.

    Have a great week.

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  2. Oh how beautiful! A gift from above...love your phrase "thrill my heart"...

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  3. Oh how cool. I saw one "smudged rainbow in the cloud" last summer while driving home and I did manage to snap a picture. I don't think it showed much on the image though.

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  4. This was a treat. Wonderful sky shots and such an interesting post too.

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  5. Great find! Very unusual and extremly beautiful.

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  6. Good capture...I have only seen this occurance once..but didn't have a camera in my hand.

    Eaglesbrother

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  7. that is gorgeous iridescence oh my i love it

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  8. Wonderful treat! The cloud iridescence is truly lovely! I clicked on the photos to get a better view.

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  9. Learn something new every day...
    This is incredible!!! I am so glad I dropped in and saw this, and even more glad that you took the time to explain it!!!

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  10. Wonderful photos .. interesting info!

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  11. What a wonderful, delightful treat! I do envy you getting to see this for real! Fantastic shots and I really enjoyed your information, as always!

    Have a great weekend!

    Sylvia

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  12. Your skies are so neat and beautiful. Great Ski Watch :)

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  13. This is a treat. I love the silvery colors. Great nature lesson also.

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  14. You wore on the right moment!
    Great pictures ! ! !
    Gr.
    P-TER

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  15. wonderful sky, I love it when it's full of those seashell colors!

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  16. Very nice picture, beautiful colors!

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  17. Fantastic!
    we just see it as pretty but learning more about how all those pretty colours got there makes it all the more interesting.

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  18. Grea captures, my fav. is the first one, done a great job!!!

    Happy SWF.

    Eric, Holland

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  19. Dew: Neat cloud photos and a great explanation.

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  20. Another thing to be looking for in the skies, and when I see it, wil know what it is, thanks to you.

    Very nice, and I do enjoy your weather updates.

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  21. Exceptional as always, you never disappoint.

    All the best
    Guy
    Regina In Pictures

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  22. Very interesting post again and my favourite photo is the first!Great sky!Have a nice weekend!

    Thank you very much for your nice comments in my blog...

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  23. What pretty golden skies!!! happy SkyWatch =)

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  24. What pretty golden skies!!! happy SkyWatch =)

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  25. Wonderful photos, I love the smudged rainbows. Great post.

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  26. the pictures look like paintings. I like the first one the most.

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  27. Wonderful post both in words and photos.Impressing:)

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  28. Cloud iridescence!
    I always learn something new when I reach here, thank you. Happy SWF!

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  29. Oh so pretty, especially the first one!!!

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  30. Great photos - the first one has so many soft colours... very nice!

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  31. well, it's been raining heavily here south of Philippines! but today, just got lucky to have seen the sun rise! nice share, dewdrop!

    happy skywatching!

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  32. so neat and beautiful! nice to watch them transform. :)

    happy skywatching, Dewdrop!

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  33. Great skywatch friday shots. Very peaceful.

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  34. oh my look at that colors, lovely!

    Here's a Korean Sunset.

    Have a horrorific Halloween!

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  35. Lovely skies and informative commentary. I have an unusual, purplish sky photo I took the other evening. I plan to post it next Friday, so be sure and visit my blog and let me know the meterological perspective!

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  36. Double Yay!!! wonderful blog. i also see things like this and instantly think of the Lord. are there less pines in south georgia? we lived in the atlanta area for 18 years...didn't see much sky there.

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  37. These clouds look like opals... so beautiful!

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  38. These are very, very beautiful, my friend.

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  39. Wow! It's really interesting to learn the science behind the beauty. No wonder the sky and its clouds fascinate you.

    Thanks for stopping by Wrenaissance! I am running behind returning visits, but didn't want to miss out entirely.

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Dew comment, please...