It’s not often the sun is red and when it is, it usually comes from wildfires. Such was the case this morning as smoke from the 416 Fire in southwestern Colorado stretched to the Front Range. Certainly it is sad to see forests burn and we certainly wish it wasn’t happening but it does make for some pretty views.
Black and white portrait of a spring snowfall
Finally! Colorado was extraordinarily dry in the winter and has been thus far in spring too. Last night and this morning we received some much needed rain and a bit of snow. The moisture is very welcome to help with the drought but also made me happy because it made for some pretty pictures this morning.
Cool morning clouds
The sunrise itself on this particular day last week wasn’t anything to write home about. However, looking toward the north, the clouds were kind of dramatic with just a hint of color on the horizon. Taken at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge near Denver, Colorado.
Bison, deer and the Flatirons
One for Tatanka Tuesday! Taken this past weekend, some of the Bison herd at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado were a good ways out across the prairie.
The skies were kind of dim but also slightly dramatic and best of all, conditions were extraordinarily clear with no ground level haze. This afforded a fantastic view of the Flatirons near Boulder with those dramatic skies above. In the foreground, the Bison and even a couple of deer.
In the end, I am pretty pleased with this image.
Grasses frame the sunrise on the Great Plains
While daytime temperatures in northeastern Colorado were relatively mild yesterday, as the sun was coming up it was a bone-chilling 7 degrees. I really did not want to get out of my toasty, warm truck but as I saw this scene unfolding I had no choice.
A notable lack of clouds had me thinking the sunrise was going to be a dud but I was soon proven wrong. The golden orb coming up over the horizon bathed the water of Jackson Lake State Park in orange and the hint of fog / steam coming off the lake looked ethereal.
Since there weren’t any clouds above to highlight I opted for a panoramic crop of this one and think it came out pretty nice.
Iridescent clouds create a multi-colored show
A very cool scene in the skies east of the Denver area this morning. These iridescent clouds lingered for a long time and provided a diversion while I was waiting for critters. We actually had some at sunset last night as well. Cloud iridescence is caused by clouds (usually cirrus) that have small water droplets or ice crystals in them causing the light to be diffracted, or spread out. The phenomena is much like the rainbow colors seen with oil in water.
Monochrome snow-covered trees
A cold and wintry day on the Colorado plains yesterday. The weather seemed to have most of the critters holed up and hiding but, thankfully, Mother Nature provided some nice scenes to take pictures of. With the mercury at 15 degrees and light snow falling, these trees stood out in the middle of nowhere wearing their coat of white. As there wasn’t much color anyway, I converted the image to black and white which seemed to work well. Available here.
The super blue blood moon over Colorado’s Rocky Mountains
I took a couple hours off of work today so I could come in late to capture the lunar eclipse. For two hours I froze my you-know-what-off to capture the event from Barr Lake State Park, Colorado State Parks.
Unfortunately I am less than happy with my zoomed in pics of the event. I suspect I did a poor job manually focusing.
However, as things came to an end, I took a wider view of the scene capturing this one. Below, the frozen lake and lights from the Front Range with those snow-capped mountains behind. Above, a wave cloud and of course that blood moon.
View all my images from this celestial event below the image.
Sunrise brings to mind sailor’s warning
“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning.” I can’t help but think of that old saying this evening – I am a sailor after all. 😉
The sunrise on the Colorado Front Range this morning was amazing as always. Those gorgeous colored clouds and sky coupled with the frozen pond below were awesome.
However, Mother Nature is apparently set to deliver a potent storm on us tonight and tomorrow so I am of course, taking warning.
Dramatic skies over the snow-capped Tetons
You might think this is a current picture given the weather conditions that seem to be taking place but in fact was taken last June. It was late spring but following a winter that saw extraordinary amounts of snow, there was still plenty of the white stuff up at altitude. In fact, just two days prior to this picture being taken we had woken up to falling snow just north of this spot in Yellowstone.
The Rocky Mountains are impressive just about anywhere but, in the Tetons, the peaks are just a step above most of the rest. They are a lot rougher and more jagged than most of the mountains here in the Colorado and to me, just look really darned cool.