trust us: it IS beautiful...

how the wind was won

unlikely inventions (2)

i heart wind farms

looks like we're having a week of wind turbines! i love these elegant giants. they're leggy and graceful like danish supermodels. and they only roar a little bit...

new religions

cappuccino skies

reinvention

the clouds today are

these cirrus clouds remind me of

or perhaps I've been reading a little to much kate beaton...

extremely keen, but slightly late picnicker

treehugger

undulation

when?

peashooter

joy!

on the rooftops today...

all the statues are out...

what lunacy!

nouveau worship

wake up! apocalypse calling!

so the week of ice haloes went on a bit longer with this bonus post by mistake...

sun blushed

the final installment of the week of ice haloes!

hug

The most amazing display of ice haloes I have ever seen. Over the town of Woodstock in Oxfordshire. A 22° halo was visible, topped by a sun gull and parry arc. The sundogs are out of shot here, but were very colourful. The brightest part was the cloud smile (CZA) sitting on top of what looked like a 46° halo, but could also have been a superlateral arc. It was so impressive I was stopping strangers in the street to show them. The may have thought I was a bit mad... They may have been right. It was glorious.

The week of ice haloes concludes tomorrow...

a matter of scale...

Can you pick out the bright point - which I think is a Parry arc - above the 22 halo that had been present for an hour or so (sun-dog locations just out of frame).

(A week of ice haloes continues...)

sei shonagon's wish list

(the week of ice haloes continues...)

sunset dogs

Does anyone else see a sun pillar here as well as the upper edge of the sun dog (parhelion)? The 22 halo had been visible for a while - though faint - but the sundogs were pretty clear in the mixed sky.

(a week of ice haloes continues)

aphrodisiac gig

Have you ever noticed that the sky on the red (out) side of a rainbow is darker than on the blue (inside). When there's a double bow, the strip in between is darker than the rest of the sky - due to all of the misdirected light busy making up the colours and the inner glow. This dark patch is named after its first decsriber, Alexander of Aphrodisias. The top of this 22 degree halo (possibly with a parry gull) is also darker on the red side. I guess this is also Alexander at work...

(A week of ice haloes...)

46 degree blues

returning from the JR in february, the boisterous spring sky put on a show. streaming whips of cirrus tore across the sky in wide swaths, slipping in and out of a bright 22° halo. above it, a 'cloud smile' lit up a fleeting fibrous veil - its blue-green tones iridescing gloriously - only to fade and flicker away in under a minute. its hard to tell if the arc below was a 46° halo or a superlateral arc. the curves kissed at the zenith - but wouldn't you? all the way up there above the sun? wearing such fine clothes?

Oxford & Adis Ababa are almost 46 degrees apart.

(Looks like we're having a week of ice haloes...)