This is a scene I have captured in the past but never on a morning quite like this one. Taken on January 10, an extraordinarily thick hoar frost and covered the entire area. In the background, a snow-covered 14,259 high Longs Peak is seen. Sunrise cast the entire scene in an amber glow. Temperatures were at only about 10 degrees so I opted to capture this image from the warmth of my truck. 😉
Orange and blue at sunrise mean a Denver Broncos victory
Well, at least I sure hope so! This morning as I was heading out for my drive I saw the rising sun start to illuminate these gorgeous lenticular clouds above our Rocky Mountains. I raced as fast as I could to find someplace with a relatively open view to the horizon and managed a few captures before the coloring faded. Taken in Adams County, Colorado.
Orange and blue mean a Denver Broncos victory!
I was a bit late getting to a decent spot to capture yesterday’s sunrise but even with waning colors, it was beautiful. Perhaps a bit of a foretelling of the victory that came today? GO BRONCOS!
Lenticular clouds glow at sunset. To say the show in the sky yesterday evening was amazing doesn’t do…
To say the show in the sky yesterday evening was amazing doesn’t do it justice. While a beautiful sunset unfolded to the west, my eye was drawn to the north where these fantastic lenticular clouds had formed. The glow from the sunset bathed them in orange and when set against the brilliant, blue Colorado sky… Well, it was magical!
Also known by their scientific name of altocumulus standing lenticularis, these clouds are not entirely unusual in Colorado on the Front Range during the winter. Strong jet winds force moist air to be pushed up by the rugged terrain of the adjacent Rocky Mountains. This creates a wave-like pattern of air flow that condenses at high altitudes (usually around 20,000 feet).
Where the deer and the antelope play
An absolutely gorgeous panoramic today in northern Colorado. I had to go to Cheyenne for work and on my way back this morning I came across a herd of about 40 of these beautiful animals. Throw in the snow covered plains and mountains and it made for a nice pic. Best of all, the herd was relatively tolerant of me and let me get some great images. You’ll be seeing more of them in the near future.
BTW, these are not truly antelope. Pronghorn are what folks oftentimes call antelope (and sing about ala “Home on the Range”) however that is a misnomer. Settlers called these animals antelope due to their similarity to Old World species however the pronghorn is its own, distinct family.
Dense fog envelops powerlines and the road
A very interesting – and pretty – morning of ??weather? here in northeastern ??Colorado?. Temperatures were in the single digits and a hoar frost had covered everything in white. Also thrown in the mix was dense ??fog?, something we don’t get very often.
All of it came together for some nice pictures including this one on a dirt road. The fog had settled into a low lying area that the South Platte River meanders through and as it did, it seemed to swallow up everything going through it.
Sunrise colors hoar frost in pastel colors
C O L D. That was the key word yesterday morning when I took this image along the South Platte River north of Denver.
The mercury was showing 1 degree above zero as the sun emerged from its slumber. With the warming light very slowly starting to spread, an amazing scene was unveiled with a thick hoar frost covering the foliage. Some of this frost stuck out an inch from the branches.
Crazy stuff and of course very, very beautiful. I snapped a few pics but then quickly retreated to the warmth of my truck. 😉
An electrified desert
New Mexico is not a state that normally comes to mind when you think of spring severe weather. However, thunderstorms rolling across the high desert of the eastern part of the state can be quite impressive. With warm, moist air from the south clashing with cold air from the north, storms in the area are capable of generating large amounts of hail and become very electrified.
Such was the case with this storm in June 2015 near Tucumcari. With a surprisingly green desert below and a supercell thunderstorm above, the scene was dramatic. The heavy rain and hail at the storm’s core are seen in the distance while a bolt of lightning pops from the storm’s leading edge. As my son and I watched this storm, we could not help but be awed at the power and the beauty.
Weathered railroad signal
Something a bit different this Saturday morning. This old railroad signal stands at the Old Town Museum in Burlington, Colorado where I was sitting waiting for storms to develop when storm chasing back in June. While some of it has been refurbished, the main part still bears the signs of life on the Great Plains.
This town on the Great Plains holds fast onto its agricultural-centric roots and embraces the feeling of community that rural locations are very special for having. If you ever get a chance to stop at this museum, I would highly recommend it. It is extraordinarily well done and provides a look back into life on the plains from the 1800s through today.
Fresh mountain snow and water reflections
A quick snap I took this weekend at McIntosh Lake in Longmont, Colorado. The sun was rising to my back and while it was gorgeous, in the opposite direction was an equally pretty scene. To the left is the 14,259 foot tall Longs Peak, covered in its first healthy shot of snow of the season. to the right are some small lenticular clouds. These ‘spaceships’ are common in the colder months and pretty darned cool. Underneath, reflections of both are seen on the lake’s surface. Both were illuminated by the golden sunrise.