What do angry clouds portend for the seasons ahead?

These were the angry clouds that moved slowly through early this week.  Habringer of turbulent summer weather to come?

Cotton puff sky highlights Ole Glory

I was watching the sky today as we moved around the city on chores.  This shot was while I was at Kinsel Ford dropping off a vehicle which needed repairs.  I was struck by the contrast between the cotton puff clouds in the  background and in the foreground the American flag flapping actively in the breezes brought in by a cool front.

Snow, silence and a white winter greet horses' hunt for grass.

This was the scene of our daughters ranch in Indiana earlier this week.  The snow eventually accumulated to 9+ inches.  I love the hush that falling snow pushes down. It looks like a White Christmas for her family.

Ominous clouds can't deliver on rain threat

This was the weather system that blew past our neighborhood last night. Ominous as it might look, it was all bluster and no rain.  The air cooled down to about 80 degrees, and it turned breezy  -- but not even a sprinkle.

Do not spindle.

How willing would you be to assume that the cloud shape overhead was just an accidental formation as the clouds swirled around?

I walked outside and saw this one day back in November.  I then ran into the house, grabbed my camera and started shooting.  I'm still perplexed by what it was all about.  Despite what you see, it didn't seem to be spinning rapidly.  At least it wasn't spinning any more rapidly that anything else in the sky which look more like a ocean full of splashing clouds that a sky.

This is a SkyWatch Friday post.  Hundreds of other bloggers post sky-based photos each Friday
Go and check out more Skywatch images at the Skywatch Site!

--steve buser

clouds, weather, swirling.

Blanketed with Christmas spirit

The weathermen and weather ladies said Beaumont received three inches of snow this week. Maybe at the weather station it did. There were lots of places that clearly got five to six inches.

Let us not quible over inches. It was a rare event, in terms of  1) it snowed at all  2) how much it snowed   3) that it snowed so early

It, put me in the Christmas spirit, though.

Oh, see the green in the foreground, by they red curb. That is a helium balloon that lost its spartanic battle of trying to stretch to the heavens. I suspect it sucumbed to the cold before it sucumbed to the snow. The shot is at the Preserve on Old Dowlen Road. ( I left this picture pretty big, so double click it to get a good blast of snow in your face.)

--steve buser

Hurricane Gustav gone, getting back to normal

 
An elderly lady gets escorted on to a evacuation bus last week by a photographer, while a National Guardsman helps with her pet. The thousands who took advantage of the city-provided evacuation by bus and train are now returning home. New Orleans and the region are fighting their way back to normalcy.


Electric companies are reporting that this weekend will be a point by which vast numbers of customers will have had their electricity restored. In this storm, damage to electric infrastructure is the biggest impediment to getting things back to normal and getting people back home.


The state still fights damage and weather worries to the south of New Orleans and up in the northern part of the state. Gustav still is messing up daily life for the folks up Michigan way.


I think many people across the country fail to realize that hurricanes are a threat both to the shore line of the Gulf Coast and Atlantic states, but also to interior states when they unwind and spill the billions of tons of water they have stored and continue to suck from the Gulf.


- steve buser

Keep falling on my head

Rain drops. Outside my window. The weatherman said the afternoon would be clear, dry and low humidity.


So it goes.


--steve buser