The first thing I do in the morning now is look up at the day’s cloud, which invariably changes or is gone by the time I look again.
I had no idea that clouds, swept by fierce atmospheric winds, move all the time, sometimes in the blink of an eye.
Sitting up there, they seem so peaceful and timeless. They are ever-changing while appearing to be still.
Today’s cloud was sent to me by the Cloud Appreciation Society, of which I am honored to be a member. I get one every morning and usually post them unless I’ve taken a more interesting photo myself.
Here is CAP’s description of this unusual, very beautiful, cloud and how these colors came to be:
“Terry Uyeki (Member 49,009) pulled off the road along with a number of other motorists to watch this pink rainbow over McKinleyville, California, US. Like any rainbow, it was caused by sunlight refracting and reflecting through a shower of raindrops. So why was this bow composed of shades of pink rather than the usual red-to-blue spectrum? The light from the Sun setting on the horizon behind Terry and her fellow motorists had to pass through the dense, low atmosphere in order to reach the shower. During its journey, the sunlight’s shorter wavelengths – those on the end of the spectrum that ranges from blue to violet – were scattered away by the molecules and particles in the air. The air scatters shorter wavelengths more than longer ones. And so only the longer wavelengths, which look orange and red to us, were left to reach the clouds and shower ahead of Terry and the other motorists. This mix of longer wavelengths lit the Stratocumulus clouds in rosy hues and shone through their drops to weave a bow of warm and vibrant pink.”
Clouds are a gentle thing, at least from the ground, and quite often a beautiful thing. They tell me much about what is happening in the air above me, and what is coming next. When I look at them, I am continuously in awe of how beautiful and peaceful they seem to be.
Thanks for all the nice messages about them.
Perhaps strangely, I’m finding the scientific explanations enhance, rather than detract from, the beauty of these images.
Me too, I had no idea how clouds or rainbows were formed, I see them differently now..
I’m in McKinleyville, CA (small world!), and oddly we have these pink-sky rainbows with some frequency in our often foggy/misty/damp conditions here by California’s rural far north coast. My favorite was a pink sky double rainbow over our airport last year when I was awaiting family visitors’ arrival. Alas, my little phone camera couldn’t do it justice. Terry’s photo is spectacular, thank you for sharing it!
I’m just south down the highway from McKinleyville which sits above the Pacific Ocean. We do have wonderful clouds from time to time – when the grey overcast ocean days go away! Glad you liked our little part of the world.