Category Archives: weather

  There is nothing that says spring like the first guttation—not the arrival of swans, swallows, or robins, but guttation. It tells me that local plant metabolism is underway. Guttation is often confused with dew. Although superficially similar in appearance, … Continue reading →

  A sun dog (a parhelion) is so named because the colourful spot of light follows its master, the Sun, around the sky. Well, it follows the Sun if the cloud, in which the sun dog forms, persists. In this … Continue reading →

  Life in mountain valleys is usually life without sun pillars. The problem is that pillars are really striking only when the Sun is low in the sky. Around here, the Sun generally appears from (or disappears) behind a mountain … Continue reading →

  I went birding, and all I saw was lacunosus—but what spectacular lacunosus it was. Lacunosus occurs in thin clouds when bubbles of buoyant dry air from below the cloud rise and poke holes in the cloud. I have shown pictures of … Continue reading →

  Iridescent colours arise in a different manner than most of the colours we see. Flowers, paints, clothing, and cat fur show colours from selective absorption. Some wavelengths (colours) are absorbed while others are reflected. The colours formed by iridescence … Continue reading →

  Winter in the valley of Kootenay Lake often offers a low ceiling of stratus—the claustrophobic overcast that prompts some people to suffer cabin fever. Yet, it is not always thus. On clear days, the view of the surrounding mountains can more … Continue reading →

  I am an enthusiastic sky watcher. By any standard, yestermorn’s sky was magnificent: a medley of haloes embellished with crepuscular rays. Shifting in brightness, the haloes would come and go. Seen (top to bottom) were: circumzenithal arc (with brilliant … Continue reading →