Altocumulus Floccus

At least, I think the clouds in today's sky picture are Altocumulus floccus - they look to be of the same general shape and structure as the other examples I've been able to find.

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But whatever type of cloud they may be, this pretty white cloud formation was spotted drifting lazily though the warm, clear spring sky yesterday afternoon. Substantial thought it appears, there was never any risk that it would obscure the welcome sunshine, serving instead to add just a little interest to an otherwise uninterestingly clear sky.

And to garner me some slightly baffled looks as paused to take the cloud's pic amid a busy garage forecourt. Ah well, not everyone's a cloud lover:)

PP

Contrail

Taken one afternoon last weekend, this sky picture features a curving contrail set against the brilliant blue background of a clear spring sky.

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Brilliantly lit by the afternoon sun, the contrail seems almost to glow as the aircraft changes course on its way to who-knows-where. So striking were the components in this image that the dramatic double chalk line of the contrail caught my immediately as I rounded a building. Fortunately, I was out and about snapping pics for another blog, so I had my camera to hand, and it was but the work of a moment to record this picture of the sky for posterity.

PP

Dark Rain Clouds

The sinister-looking collection of nimbostratus clouds in this picture promised an imminent torrential downpour, and it wasn't long before that promise was fulfilled.

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Stretching all the way to the horizon, these rain clouds have an air of impending doom about them that is usually only found in expensive special effects budgets and seaside towns on a bank holiday weekend. I find it quite easy to imagine their swirling masses being torn apart to reveal some rampaging bogeyman or other, be it man-made, alien, supernatural or whatever else you may choose to imaging lying concealed within their ominous depths.

Fortunately, this cloud photo features water vapour of a singularly undramatic bent, and all that emerged was rain - and lots of it!

PP

Dusk Contrails

I snapped this picture of the sky a couple of days ago, some time after sunset. I was on my way to the local supermarket when the striking combination of high altitude clouds, contrails and deep blue evening sky caught my eye.

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Naturally, I had to pull over and dig out the camera - trying to take photographs of clouds while driving is probably even more frowned upon than using the phone, and the resulting cloud images probably wouldn't be all that good, either.

This, then, together with my haste to capture the upper right contrail before the aircraft sped out of sight, is my excuse for the slightly skewed angle at which this photo appears to have been taken - must try harder next time I thrust my camera out of the car window!

PP

Lonely Cloud

Taken at lunchtime just a few days ago, this cloud photo captures what was, for quite a while, the only cloud visible in an otherwise clear, blue, late March sky.

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While clear skies are, no doubt, good news for those of us with pressing outdoor chores to attend to, acres and acres of uninterrupted blue celestial real estate don't, as a rule, make for interesting sky pictures. In fact, they're almost as unphotogenic as the wall-to-wall dull grey rain clouds that have been so common here lately.

This solitary specimen stood out against the empty sky, a vaguely symmetrical illustration of delicate-looking water vapour, adrift in a sea of blue, and was quickly earmarked as potential cloud picture material. And here it is!

PP

Contrail Dawn

Today's post probably doesn't qualify as a sunrise picture since it was taken a little while before sunrise on a March morning in very early spring - note the outlines of new leaf buds on the silhouetted tree branches at the top of the picture.

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The red light in the distant clouds shades gently to pink and then up to a delicate blue above the distant trees, contrasting nicely with the silvery chalk-mark of an early morning contrail heading into the new day. Even without the sun itself, the returning daylight paints a striking picture of light sky and dark outlines that caught my eye while I was waiting for the main event (sunrise).

PP

Fluffy Clouds

This cloud image was taken yesterday lunchtime, as great wads of white clouds drifted around the mid-day sun and filled a sizeable part of the deep blue sky with intricate structures.

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I was struck by the way the light fell upon the large mass of clouds at the bottom of the picture, clearly highlighting the contours of its surface and the delicate patterns around the perimeter. The towering peaks and deep valleys of the cloud's surface are shown to have a surface as insubstantial as the outer edges - hardly surprising as, from another perspective, they are the outer edges, and, in any event, the cloud is nothing more than drifting, billowing water vapour. Even so, it remains a thing of (natural) beauty!

PP