Taken with my new DJI Air 2S drone. Fun shot and a cool test of this new asset.
Rainbow, rain shafts and mammatus clouds southeast of Thornton, Colorado
Springtime-like storm clouds in the winter
The first part of our winter here on the Colorado Front Range was kind of odd. We were extremely dry and what storms we received were different than normal. Such was the case on Christmas Eve when we actually received rain instead of the more typical snow.
I had to run a quick errand to pick up some last-minute things late that afternoon for the holiday and the storm clouds were brewing. What was notable was how they looked much more like a May or June thunderstorm, including mammatus clouds. Mammatus is usually more associated with severe thunderstorms so it made for quite an unusual Christmastime scene over a local open space.
Pastel-colored lenticulars in the Colorado foothills
This is a spot you have seen me share pictures from before but, goodness, this Saturday it was a particularly awesome view.
The sun was just starting to creep over the horizon in the east. To the west, this is the view that unfolded over a historical farm. Above, the clouds glowed in pastel-colored pinks and oranges. On the horizon, the Rocky Mountains with Mount Meeker and Longs Peak standing tall and proud just behind and to the left of the barn.
Beautiful!
It is with good reason that when I am photographing in the Longmont area, I usually time my arrival to coincide with sunrise at this spot.
Cool clouds along the river
Just a random picture from one of my hikes this past weekend. The clouds were just crazy cool, seeming to emanate from a single point on the distant horizon. Throw in those beautiful, blue Colorado skies behind them and it was a very pleasant, fall scene.
“Me day” brings amazing cloud iridescence
I’ve been burning the candle at both ends pretty heavily lately and just needed a quick break to recharge so I took today off as a “me day.” That of course meant a morning of photography and while I got some cool critter pics to share in the coming days, there was also this.
As I waited for some action, looking to the east the clouds to the south of the sun were a veritable rainbow of colors. The iridescence coupled with the way cool shapes in the clouds was pretty darned awesome to see (but kind of hard to capture in pictures).
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.
Cross in the sky at sunrise on Easter Sunday
I stepped out the door this morning and this is the scene that greeted me. I didn’t have time to make it to a better spot so just snapped the image from the street. Just gorgeous and pretty neat to have seen it today of all days. He is risen! Happy Easter, everyone!
Lone tree on the Colorado plains
Sometimes you don’t have to go far for a cool scene – you just need to be paying attention.
Sitting at our campsite a few weeks ago, my wife and I were enjoying a nice, quiet late afternoon. At seemingly the same time, we both looked up from what we were reading and said, “Wow. That sure is pretty!”
Right ahead of us lie a field with a single pine tree. The sky was amazingly blue and punctuated with bright, white clouds. Off in the distance just above the horizon, thunderstorms were popping, the tops of the clouds of which we could see.
It really was quite beautiful and served as a reminder to pick your head up and look out every now and then. While the color image was nice, we both agreed that a conversion to black and white worked best. It really helped to make that one, lone tree pop and stand out from the rest of the scene.
Fantastic morning view on the Colorado plains
After what was an absolutely amazing sunrise, the clouds put on a gorgeous show to the northwest. Low to the horizon and well off in the distance, lenticular clouds hovered over the terrain. High and closer the clouds were no less impressive. That big one in the middle reminds me of a blimp. Underneath it all was of course those gorgeous Rocky Mountains.
In the wake of the storm
June means severe weather season here in Colorado and that can make for some fun afternoons. Today, we had a nice thunderstorm move through and, thankfully, no big hail.
After the storm passed, the clouds to the east looked awesome with bits of mammatus mixed in with the formations.
I tried my best to get some lightning shots but failed. It seemed no matter which way I pointed my camera, the bolts were the opposite way. 😉
A beautiful Colorado morning with a “corkscrew” cloud over the mountains
