bowtie`

A first for the year. I was able to get home and grab the camera, and image the post sunset color after work. Only had time to get to the municipal lot. Did not have enough time to make it all the way to the overpass though. So the trees, wires and lights had to be included. Taken with the 24-70mm at 59mm...

This winter? That would have been December 21st, 4:48p.m..

Cool article. I just learned about the astronomical stuff first and that is what stuck with me. I liked being able to go out and make observations with a stick and it's shadow and confirm it like it has been done for centuries.

I never did understand that. The equinox and solstice are where it is at. Earth-Sun relationship for the win.

Technically, Spring starts in less than a month. March 20th at 5:24p.m..

Plenty of cirrus around this afternoon and early evening. Started off with a sundog in an old contrail getting ripped to shreds in the winds aloft. Taken with the 24-70mm at 39mm... A partial 22 degree halo around the Sun with a small sundog on the south side. Taken with the 24-70mm at 31mm... I had hoped that would get some great color post sunset, but those dreams were squashed. The best I could do was pre-sunset. Taken with the 24-70mm at 31mm...

Third *weekend* in a row of sandhill cranes honking their way back north. Kind of surprised by the size of the flock from this afternoon...

I thought he and his magnet went to the UP?

Now the Great Lakes are going to have more variability just because of size and depth, but still...

Another nice day with CAVU. A touch breezy though. I think the highest I saw at KIND was 27G38. Enough to make the flags and bunting stand straight out.

After another nice day with CAVU, some cirrus approached from the south for sunset. Taken with the 24-70mm at 61mm...

What is new about this? The discrete stuff on the Idiana/Illinois border was a swing and miss. Did it not account for the cold ground temps maybe putting the squash on surface based stuff? It did have the general look right. Will be curious to see more of this in another month or so.

Got to try a sunrise with the new camera. A system was just over-running the area and I thought it might have some color with it even if it was a bit frosty outside. The camera handled the various and minute colors well as the color just started on the horizon. Taken with the 24-70mm at 70mm... The over-the-top oranges and yellows were captured well with just a bit of blow-out. Taken with the 24-70mm at 47mm...

Today was a carbon copy of yesterday, only slightly breezier.

Not a cloud in the sky...

^ Top-notch stellar day for the middle of February.

The 31% down south coupled with the 4% up north spells a bad or different time for the whole planet.

Ummmmm nevermind. Last report dropped the gusting 22. Now it is back to just 3mph.

Interesting, during the past ten mintues at KIND, in the five minute reports, the winds have been 3 gusting to 22mph.

Nice sunset this evening. Looking southwest pre-sunset. Taken with the 24-70mm at 33mm... Looking southeast as the bottom of the clouds was being illuminated with light. Taken with the 24-70mm at 28mm... The sunset looking southwest again. The new camera is doing better with the high contrast images. Taken with the 24-70mm at 61mm... And while the red was way far to the west, the reason I am adding this is the foreground detail. The amount of detail is the dark areas is tons better with the new camera. But having twice the resolution of the old camera has a lot to do with it. Taken with the 24-70mm at 70mm...

Today was all about the cirrus. Both images were taken from my yard so the trees and wires are part of the package. From the morning sunrise looking east. Taken with the 24-70mm at 41mm... Mid-afternoon and a 22 degree halo around the Sun with a contrail and slight contrail shadow for some extra spice. Taken with the 24-70mm at 24mm...

The vibrant colors of a newly painted back wall of a local business...

Breaking News, News Flash. Just fifteen minutes ago I was in the side yard trying to image a 22 degree halo around the sun when I was photobombed by some sandhill cranes heading back north. A great sign that things are getting better!

Poor Buffalo. Getting run over with two huge snow events and now to add insult to injury, a 3.8 earthquake to boot.