bowtie`

Just a little into the uncomfortable range.

Day 23 of the continuing streak. Did not expect much at all. Was close to calling it off but after dinner I noticed some breaks in the far north western sky and went out to the pond, just in case. Some crepuscular rays when I got out to the pond... The beginning of the yellow... The end of the yellow... The last of the color way in the distance...

Day 22 and a nice relaxing time at the pond this evening. Nothing so amazing that I got nervous about missing anything special and no time constraints so I could be there when and as long as I liked. When I got to the pond... Greatest extent of clouds and as close to local sunset as I was going to get. And that was not very close at all with the system moving in... The red flash on some local clouds to the north. Yes, I shot this very dark so as not to blow out those reds, as this camera body is prone to do... The better red flash was to the north of me. I am guessing LAF and points north probably had a jaw-dropping event. I was just a tick too south to get to play with it...

Well, I'll be... Day 21. Week 4 of the streak is about to begin. Ending of the third week was very enjoyable. Local sunset. I thought I might have been too late because of other commitments but it timed out just right. The Sun is in the tree in the center of the image but trust me there is about three to five pixels, that I can see real easy at 100%. I was happy just to have some clouds to shoot... Post sunset I started to get a rather broad cloud shadow. I thought if this is the best my night will be OK... But it was even going to get better. I am going to share two more images. They were taken one after the other. It was really getting to be close to jaw-dropping. The red searchlight was the cherry on top of the sundae... This last image was taken within 5 to 10 seconds after the above image. Just enough to let the lights on the billboard get powered up to full power. This way you can pick or choose which you like best. With the billboard lit, or without the billboard illuminated... Looking at the satellite when I got home, I see what looked like an alley formed in north central Iowa. That would coincide with what I was seeing. What a gorgeous sunset. Good night my darlin', wherever you are...

On and on it goes. Day 20 and counting. Looking northeast when I got out to the pond. Almost looks like a fall-streak cloud... Once the Sun Set I could see just a couple clouds, wayyyyyyy off in the western distance... The red flash was kind of different this evening. The red was contained from due west and from south of there. Nothing up north. Looking at the satellite when I got home I see the convection in South Dakota and Minnesota turned the light off north while south of there was still open. Hence this...

On and on the streak goes. Day 19 at the pond. The storms rolled through early enough that I was able to make it out there with no problem. Looking northeast when I got out to the pond. I like that I got lucky and caught the strobe on the radio tower going off... I thought there were no clouds out west till the Sun sunk beneath the horizon. Then I was able to see these little suckers... Extreme late color...

The streak continues once again. Day 18. Who needs sleep? When I got to the pond and looked east. The firehouse and a cloud... There was only one cloud to the west also. Although it was more overhead than west... Once the Sun dipped below the horizon, all the clouds evaporated with the loss of Daytime heating, so I was just trying to get the color right from then on. Just a tad bit of the violet color here... Glad I stayed for every micron of color. Here you can see I had a rather strong cloud shadow real late. I am not sure if it is from a string of clouds in western Illinois or northwest Iowa. I am thinking the Illinois string. Almost looks like the billboard is causing the shadow but it had nothing to do with it...

Day 17 of the streak. While it was nothing to write home about, it was another evening at the pond and that is a good thing. Looking south at the cells over Bloomington, IN. when I got to the pond... The view to the west was cloudless so it was all about the color post sunset...

89'd at KIND today. The ten point dewpoint increase from yesterday, from 55 to 65, made it feel a little oppressive outside this afternoon.

Day 16 of the streak continued this evening at the pond. The neat thing about this evening was the combo of clouds. To the east was the cumulus. To the west was the cirrus, both low and high altitude. Made for another fun night behind the viewfinder. When I got to the pond. THe view to the east and the cumulus... Now on to the west and all the cirrus. Starting off with local sunset... Max orange... Max red though it was a weak looking red... And finishing up with the last dregs...

I have large cracks in the ground opening up in the now dormant grass. But then it is early August. It is suppose to be hot and dry this time of year. And guess what, it is!

89 at KIND also. We are your equal today.

Day 15 of the streak continues. The big question of the night was, a. Does the smoke conditions cause the clouds? Or b. Does the cloud conditions cause the smoke to be visible? Whatever the case, sparce conditions at the pond this evening. A little of that violet color with some extremely diffuse cloud shadows... This is the end...

Only 87 at KIND. You guys are two degrees better than us. lol

My favorite time of the year. Tonight was my 14th day in a row being at the pond taking sunset shots. I might be a little sleep deprived but my joy factor with life has gotten beyond the sated phase. Got to enjoy this while it lasts before those 100% stratus days start up again. It was another night with perfect placement of clouds for optimal viewing. Oh, and it took so long to go through, chose and edit all the images of the evening that it is tomorrow already. So these are from the evening of Aug. third if you are looking at them sometime in the future. Started off with what it looked like when I got to the pond. There was a little sun dog on the left side of the Sun... A little more of a broad view pre-sunset... Post sunset and the way the *white* clouds kind of made semi-circles, intrigued me... The greatest extent of the red flash... Some of that violet color that I think is smoke induced. Oh and the moon also... Not sure if I should share this one but I think I shall. This is all about the white clouds at the top and middle of the image. While they might not be noctilucent clouds they have to be close cousins. The clouds have to pretty high up to still be white when I am so far past sunset. Matter of fact it was 43 minutes past local sunset to this image. Also the incidental light on that cloud to the right looks pretty wild. So this image has a few things that I like...

Looking at the satellite after I got home I confirmed what I thought out at the pond earlier. I was right on the edge of the clouds. Had clouds to the north and west. But the east and south were barren. Gave me some nice cirrus to image. Local sunset and the yellows... Post sunset and the orange... The red flash was rather rapid and a little diffuse... And way past time I should have headed home. I really like the young moon in the upper left. Just gives the image a little lift...

Not much to the sunset this evening. I still put in an appearance at the pond though. Post sunset there was this thin, little cloud that looked like it formed on a smoke boundary... Also had some diffuse and faint cloud shadows going on for another short period of time. I am not sure if the shadows were from the front edge in Iowa or the top of the cells in South Dakota. I am going to guess South Dakota, but what do I know... Tried shooting it this way so see if it was *easier* to see. You be the judge...

Was another *fun* evening out at the pond. Started off close to local sunset. A nice combo of clouds... Did not look like there was going to be much color post sunset so I was messing around trying to get a decent reflection image... Suddenly, and I do mean suddenly, some decent red seemed to pop up out of no where. Looking back a the visual satellite I now see the reason it happened. The clouds over southern Iowa were moving towards Missouri. When they got far enough south it suddenly let the red through as the Sun made its way around the bend under the horizon... Here I tried to make the image as symmetrical as possible...

Thank you Lake Michigan for the lake boundary clouds this evening. I know usually I curse you for the 100% stratus days but today I needed your influence to have some clouds to shoot at sunset. Close to sunset... Clouds off to the south with some nice color... Sort of early post sunset... Really late post sunset...

Kind of a different night at the pond. The rain of the afternoon had passed on to the east but the low level moisture was hanging tough. Made for some waiting but also some nice images. When I first got to the pond there was some nice sun dogs with that perfectly placed cloud... Looking to the north with the high white cirrus and the yellow low level clouds... And now looking east at the same conditions as above... Then there was a break as a solid layer of clouds ran overhead. It was one hour between the above image and this one... Of course, losing the daytime heating the clouds melted away as the light died with them...

I do not think so... https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/ Try again. Nothing in Florida and only D2 in the Pacific Northwest.

Pre-system sunsets can be chancy affairs. At least there was some cirrus to shoot this evening. When I got to the pond and from my normal position... Moved over to the fishermen's point to get this cirrus off to the north... Post sunset color right on the horizon... And finishing the evening with a look at the same cirrus cloud that I started with but much later and from farther towards the north side of the pond...

I was not sure that the evening would bring, but I was ready for about anything for once. An overview hen I got out to the pond. this image is looking about due west. You can see some rain way, way far away in Illinois. Then there is a cell to the north in the right side of the image. I was interested in the orange in the northwest. If the corridor opened up just a little bit the post sunset color could be good... As close to local sunset as I was going to get with a visual on the Sun. While the above image was with the 16-35mm. This image was with the 24-70mm... About the best color dynamics, and a switch back to the 16-35... The red flash, caught with the 24-70... And ending the evening back on the 16-35mm with the incidental light on the clouds above my head... Was such a strange night in that all those lens changes and I was ahead of the curve all night. Making the proper choice with plenty of time to get set up in time and not miss anything I wanted. Usually I am frantic at some point and miss something but this worked out rather nicely. And the sky cooperated also

For being typically the hottest time of the year, the recent past has been fairly nice. Sure there has been a couple of warm days. But those days have not been a prolonged stretch. Looks like more of the same coming in the near future. A+ summer so far.

A nice night out at the pond. The clouds were out there. And it was just a pleasant evening to soak up the colors. Close to local sunset, real close... Close to maximum color dynamics ... Once again had that violet color late, late in the evening. Very pretty...