Category Archives: weather

  There was a lunar eclipse in the early hours of today. When the Moon is in the Earth’s umbra (totally in shadow), sunlight cannot reach it directly. Yet it glows with two different colours: red and blue. Both are … Continue reading →

  The chaotic web of an orb-weaver spider has collected drops from a fog that drifted by. (These are not dewdrops.)

  I found yesterday’s rainbow picture to be so delicious that it had to be savoured alone: it was the nicest shot I have managed of a semicircular bow replete with its reflection in the calm waters of the Lake.  Yet, during the half-hour I watched … Continue reading →

  It’s that time of year: mid-day in June is the time to watch for the circumhorizontal arc. The arc forms low in the sky when the Sun is high. I watched for it yesterday, but did not have a good … Continue reading →

  Advection fog is the name given to the fogs that form, usually in the summer, when warm moist air from the land flows offshore (is advected) over a much colder ocean. Simple books will claim that it is merely … Continue reading →

  A rip is stretch of fast-flowing and rough water. Much confusion arises from that simple definition: In the public’s mind, the only rip is the particular one that is often called a rip current, but, given its provenance, really should really … Continue reading →

  It may be spring in the valleys, but there is still snow in the mountains—and interesting snow at that.  Stu Heard sent me pictures from a foray that he and Holley Rubinsky made up Mt. Buchanan a week ago. … Continue reading →

  Yesterday, there was a halo around the Sun; this morning, the rain (or snow) began. These events were related. The earliest sign of an approaching mid-latitude storm is often a canopy of cirrus—a veil of ice crystals. While simple … Continue reading →