The foreground of this image is a bit ‘meh’ for a wallpaper, but the march of those massive lenticular clouds past Mt. Rainier (Washington, USA) is just spectacular.
Last June I was treated to a whole horizon full of lenticular clouds near Reno, Nevada, while on a road trip. I took a bazillion photos through the front windshield, and found the whole scene to be quite magical…but those clouds were to these as a rain shower is to a hurricane. I mean, these are mountain-sized.
The photo is from December 2008, and was featured in an Astronomy Picture of the Day on 4 November 2012. What puzzles me is that there is still autumn foliage on what looks to be a sweet gum tree…in December?
(Click on the image to lenticulate.)
If you took a photo of my street right now, you’d get loads and loads of autumn foliage still hanging from the lower branches. In january. Or, as you say, in spring.
And I stick by it! It’s spring here. (Heck, this morning I drove past road embankments that were solid yellow with Bermuda Buttercup.) BUT — December in the Pacific Northwest of the US is a whole different ballgame. Deciduous trees are normally stripped of leaves by then.
Maybe that’s partly a result of wind and rain action, but it also varies with tree species. Sweet gums hold onto their leaves for a very long time so are often dressed in fall color long after surrounding trees are bare.
I found other photos of the lenticular clouds on someone’s blog :
http://www.komonews.com/weather/blogs/scott/35631614.html
They’re spectacular!
Nice find! Spectacular is right…wow.
Yes there are a few sweetgums that have color very late, we noticed these especially this past December.
I have seen some trees with color yet although most have shed their leaves. I know on Garfield St. 11-18 the Maples were still in full glory on Dec. 17. More have lost their leaves as of last weekend, but I have noticed the leaves hanging about longer the past several winters.
Those clouds look quite alien, like something out of Stargate.