Favorite Atmospheric/Sky Phenomenon

[SnowenOutThere]

Thought it was time for another fun thread! Curious to know what everyone's favorite thing that happens in the sky. Of course, we all know the basic answers of snow/severe but I'm hoping to get some more in depth answers. For example snow squalls or orthographic events instead of just plain snow! Personally my favorite meteorological events are Hurricane Sunsets/Sunrises due to the upper anticyclone spreading out high level cirrus wave clouds which capture the sun extremely well to get brilliant sunsets. A non meteorological pick would be Blood Moons as I just think they're neat to be both predictable/easy while still really cool. Visual examples of my own work for each! 

[Paleocene]

Paleocene's Sky Stuff Rankings (I like the  I guess)

1) Extremely low AQI / high pressure days with zero cloud cover and deep blue sky, particularly from July - October (but also other months)

2) Sunny days in February - March when the sun angle starts increasing but the leaves aren't out yet, and everything is lit very brightly in profile by the still angled rays of the sun, especially houses/buildings/trees. See paintings by Edward Hopper (my prof pic). Shadows are pronounced.

3) Obligatory SN+

4) When it absolutely rains buckets and sheets of rain and it's like we're in south florida

[dailylurker]

My new favorite sky is the stunning sky you get up on the Tug in the snowbelt. As a Marylander my entire life it's like nothing I've experienced here. You get this deep blue arctic sky with this extreme contrast to black, orenge, purple, and pink where the snow bands streak across the sky. It reminded me of low top thunderstorms training across an arctic blue sky. There's also a fuzzy look from the wind carrying flakes out into the blue sky. During the evening the sunsets reminded me of something I experienced in Hawaii. It's unique and very beautiful. 

[DMAC98]

I've seen two solar eclipses within the path of totality, do those count?

August 21, 2017 (Simpsonville, SC)

April 8, 2024 (Toledo, OH - sorry for the shit quality)

[SnowenOutThere]

1 minute ago, Paleocene said:

Paleocene's Sky Stuff Rankings (I like the  I guess)

1) Extremely low AQI / high pressure days with zero cloud cover and deep blue sky, particularly from July - October (but also other months)

2) Sunny days in February - March when the sun angle starts increasing but the leaves aren't out yet, and everything is lit very brightly in profile by the still angled rays of the sun, especially houses/buildings/trees

3) Obligatory SN+

4) When it absolutely rains buckets and sheets of rain and it's like we're in south florida

Absolutely great list. I personally like the sunny days within 10 days of the winter equinox as you get a very pastel sun/light which is very good for landscape photography compared to the more harsh summer light. 

[Paleocene]

4 minutes ago, SnowenOutThere said:

Absolutely great list. I personally like the sunny days within 10 days of the winter equinox as you get a very pastel sun/light which is very good for landscape photography compared to the more harsh summer light. 

Agreed!. I have an inordinate number of photos of trees/woods taken between 12/10 and 12/31 each year lol. Love that soft light. Even better the further north you go

[gopper]

double rainbows (google pic)

[gopper]

Sun Dogs (google pic)

 

[NorthArlington101]

Really tough to beat the total solar eclipse. Enough to make a grown man cry!

Besides that... I mean a truly vivid rainbow is honestly cooler than an aurora. Or just a pitch perfect (for DC area) cumulonimbus cloud is really sweet. 

[WxUSAF]

[PrinceFrederickWx]

Solar eclipse (nothing else on the list compares to this one!)

Lunar eclipse

Aurora

Lenticular clouds

Double rainbow

Red/orange sun through smoke

Thundersnow (only one on this list I haven't seen in person, though my wife has)

Also idk what you call this, but when you can see the white disk of the sun through low lying clouds and fog (I posted a pic of this late last year).

 

Edit: lenticular clouds IMBY 6/20/2022 (or I think they are; someone can correct me if I'm wrong but these looked cool).

[WolfStock1]

Never seen in person but would very much *love* to see - sprites:

 

[MN Transplant]

KH waves are always nice to see

[Herb@MAWS]

Rainbow clouds are fun. Not rare but a bit uncommon. Ice crystals acting like prisms in high-up clouds. Have used a pic of some I took over my house as my laptop wallpaper for 15 or more years. Not this one shown altho it looks similar. The pic I took is on my laptop upstairs but sending this from my phone from the basement. Not necessarily my fave, just something a little different. Saw one a few days ago while in Culebra. 
 

[hosj III]

Cold, dark winter mornings

Fog

The "pre snowstorm" weather of a sense of "descending stillness"

Howling winds that make the building your in shake

Walking around after a strong thunderstorm that brings down branches/debris

Lightning illuminating a distant cumulonimbus on an otherwise mostly clear summer night

[MDphotog]

While I'm not sure it is a phenomenon per say, one thing that jumps out to me happened a few years ago.  I was flying back into BWI from Detroit, and it occurred during the decent into landing.  Near Frederick you could see pretty good snow fall coming down out the window lit up in the plane's lights.  However, once we were down lower and, on the ground, it was all coming down as rain due to the temps.  It was so wild to me to see the warm layer melting the snow in person over a few minutes, okay more than just a "layer" in this instance.  

[Bob Chill]

Mammatus cloud sunset. Rare but they happen in the dmv once in a while. Mammatus clouds behind a gnarly thunderstorm are wild but toss a sunset color pallet into it and it's other worldly.

Not my pic but what a show here...