1/30/12 Rapid City Sunset

Nothing terribly amazing but it was pretty none-the-less. On an attempt to update my blog more often and to keep it updated with pictures I have most recently taken, I will post this account. Went up on Skyline Dr. again to watch the sunset. It was very warm today so it was an excuse to breathe some fresh air. There were some high clouds around as well that I thought would give the sunset a nice touch.


Here is the white balance warmer...


The high clouds began to thin out...


Clouds further south brought out some pink...


Mid-level clouds were advecting in from the northwest. At the outer edges some weak kelvin-helmholtz waves developed with the wind speed (shear) differences from the base of the cloud to the top...


The waves dissipated not long after...


The moon was nearly first quarter tonight as well and was quite bright. I tried to get the sneaky "lunar x" along the night/day line on the southern part of the moon formed from the shadows in the valleys but couldn't get it out. Its darn hard to accurately zoom into the moon and have it be in focus with a 100-300mm lense!



Well, that is all for now! Am hoping to get up to Spearfish area in the next week or so and take some pictures of ice off the waterfalls up there. Stay tuned for more!

Thanks for visiting!
Chip

1/22/12 Auroras in Rapid City

We were the only ones in the contiguous United States! Three waves were visible from 5-9pm local time (0-4z on the 23rd). I captured all three with the second wave around 8pm being the most prominent. Below is a few stills with the overall time lapse at the bottom. Enjoy!

I will be updating the blog with some other stuff soon too so check back and share it with your friends! I also started a twitter for anyone interested, you can find me at "@wx_chip".

Thanks again for checking it out!

Chip!

12/12/11 Rime in the Black Hills

Rime, rime, oh how I have dreamed about you. I always wanted to get macro shots of rime but have never had the opportunity to see it. With a moist, stagnant air mass in place over much of the northern Plains, I finally had the chance to see some. We actually went searching for a high point that put us above the massive layer of fog to get the moon above the clouds but couldn't find a place, it was just to thick. So here are a few pictures of rime that developed on the trees, weeds, and a park bench. The guy gold panning was a interesting foreground as well!



















Hope ya like em! Check back here every once in awhile for new pics! I will probably try to get more rime tomorrow before the pattern shifts and the fog moves out, taking the rime with it, and bringing even colder air. By the way, it was about 15F when I was taking these pictures. I also learned a valuable lesson, steel toe boots=bad idea in that cold of air.

Chip

11/19/11 Winter Wonderland

It is only mid-November...so why not dump a foot of snow and drop temperatures below zero? Went out and about on the town as the snow fell and got some pictures. Total at my place was a solid 12". Was pretty much snowed in as they don't plow the roads here till at least a day after the event, and when they do it, they use graders!









Any guesses at what the black stuff is on the lake?







Thanks for checking my blog out! Share it with others and follow!

Chip

10/23/11 A jaunt through the park

It was Sunday evening I was going for a run around the lake and park that I live next to. It just so happened to be a great sunset and the fall colors were out in all force (and have seemingly been for a month now it). I had my cell phone and did a bit of editing because it sucks with the midtones and they were way to bright. I think they came out pretty darn well. Enjoy!

Gradually you see rays from the cloud shadows (crepuscular rays) and then a pretty pink finale right next to my apartment. In the last picture, if you look real close, you can see a whole family of deer in the bottom right, they didn't show up very well though. It is the local family that I see almost everyday around my place. They are around at all hours of the day and even bed up against the apartment. I am going to get fresh venison one of these days...


























Hope ya liked the shots!

Chip

9/28/11 Auroras

After a very unsatisfying Monday with really high hopes (and turning out we missed a big show by a mere 15-30 mins), I ventured back out on Tuesday hoping to see an aurora. I watched the aurora observation charts and maps very closely, and was pleasantly surprised. I ventured out in the Black Hills, aka, the backyard and looked and looked for a view. After avoiding about 20 deer, I found a decent lookout and sure enough, aurora!

Here are a few pictures of the auroras:


In the image below, you can see a vivid pillar to the right side.



The pillar moved more westward and is pretty cool looking.


I put all the images together with a photoshop action and you can see the entire event put together in one image.



And then one final image taken from the road. This is about three miles from the city and you can still see the green from the aurora. The red is my tail lights as I had my foot on the brake. Pretty neat you can see them so close to the city.



And as mandatory with any aurora, here is the video:

Hopefully there is another CME from the sun soon. I really enjoy shooting auroras under the clear sky. It is so peaceful and tranquil under all the stars of the universe. A few more blog updates are to come soon as well. Tomorrow I will be out shooting a prescribed fire in the Black Hills and then this weekend I will probably get some shots of the waxing moon. Stay tuned!

Chip!