A record of the changing Suffolk sky . . . click on a picture to view large . . . best seen full screen.

Friday 30 November 2007

Friday's sky

At about noon the sky overhead was mostly cirrostratus and cirrus, with a few wisps of cumulus scudding by, but a bank of cumulus was building up to the south-west, and heading easterly.

The panorama is made from several photos stitched together with Autostitch. Click on the image to see a large version.

By two-ish, the sky was mostly stratocumulus.

Thursday 29 November 2007

Wednesday 28 November 2007

Fallstreak hole

A hole in the altocumulus cut by falling ice crystals (precipitation) from a higher cloud.

Altocumulus sky

Tuesday 27 November 2007

Monday 26 November 2007

Mackerel Monday

An altocumulus day. The stripy, billowy bits are known as a "mackerel sky", due to the resemblance to fish scales.

Sunday 25 November 2007

Layers

The highest (top left) is altocumulus. In the middle, the diagonal edge of a sheet of stratocumulus. Below that, a wisp of scudding cumulus. The cables just happened to get in the way, but made an interesting pattern.

Wild and windy

Lots of cloud activity this morning. Mostly cumulus here.

Saturday 24 November 2007

Light pollution

Two examples of light pollution, at about 6 pm-ish. The first is an orange glow in the sky caused by sodium street lighting in Ipswich reflected off low level cloud. The second is a bright light to the rear of a house just across the field, which is on most evenings.

They're both reasons why it's become much more difficult to see the stars at night. Light pollution is also very wasteful of energy. The Campaign for Dark (star-filled) Skies wants action to prevent light pollution, and so do I.

Friday 23 November 2007

Sky on fire

The setting sun lit the clouds.

Thursday 22 November 2007

A break in the clouds

Taken a few miles from home, late morning. The day began and ended greyly.

Wednesday 21 November 2007

High speed cumulus

This morning there were lots of isolated scraps of cumulus scudding across the sky in a north-easterly direction. Within a few hours the wind had dropped.

Tuesday 20 November 2007

Soggy sky

I ventured no further than the front door today, where I came across this drop of water on the Virginia creeper.

Monday 19 November 2007

Grey Monday

It was nothing but stratocumulus overhead all day, but when I drove into town this afternoon I saw a break in the clouds with some lovely crepuscular rays. I didn't take the camera - very annoying.

Sunday 18 November 2007

Distant cumulus

Stratus overhead. These cumulus (cumuli?) are about ten miles away, taken with the zoom lens.

Saturday 17 November 2007

Stratus with birds


I was just thinking it would be impossible to take an interesting photo of such a dull sky, when this happened...

Friday 16 November 2007

A clear cold sky

In the morning there were lots of contrails but as the day warmed up they soon evaporated, like this one. It was only when I looked closer at the shot that I noticed the moon is in the picture, though it's very faint. Follow the line of the contrail to the left and it's just over half-way up the photo.

Thursday 15 November 2007

Morning sun

First thing this morning from my window.

Wednesday 14 November 2007

Cloud globules

First thing this morning, stratocumulus overhead. Convection clouds separated by clear spaces. Later the cumulus built up, and then went again.

Tuesday 13 November 2007

A cloud-filled day

I made the mistake of putting three pictures in one post yesterday, which took a lot of fiddling about, so today's pictures are separate. Some days there's so much cloud action, I'm spoilt for choice. Today was one of those days.

Looking west

Two photos joined together and extensively photoshopped. Click on the picture to see it full size. It could be improved but I've already spent far too much time messing about with cloud pictures today.

Towers

After I've taken the previous photos and turned towards home I noticed these cumulonimbus towers growing to the north west. Ten minutes later they'd joined into one massive black cloud but I couldn't get a clear shot from close to home. A few people got wet, I reckon.

More cirrus

There's so much variety in cirrus clouds - streaks, sheets, curls, hooks, waves, and random patterns. These were lit by a low sun in mid-afternoon.

Monday 12 November 2007

Cold sky

It was chilly at ground level, but between 16,500 and 45,000 feet it was even chillier. In the morning a few isolated patches of cirrus floated about, but this is a larger area formed of two types of cirrus: at the top of the picture, streaky cirrostratus, a milky veil at about 30,000 feet; at the bottom of the picture, the bobbly appearance of cirrocumulus, which is higher.

At sunset, there was a layer of altocumulus overhead, larger bobbles than the cirrocumulus, at a lower altitude.






















Lower still, a few cumulus caught the colours of the sunset as they faded away.

Sunday 11 November 2007

Cross winds

The cirrus streak is being swept along by the jet stream - high speed winds at about 30,000 feet.

The cumulus, lower down, is moving at a different speed, and in a different direction.

Sunday morning sky

Looking over the fence when I let the dog out this morning.

Through my window

This is what I saw when I drew the curtains this morning.

Saturday 10 November 2007

Friday 9 November 2007

Lonely cloud

Solitary cumulus humilis. Bright sunny day, but cold wind.

Thursday 8 November 2007

Mixed up cumulus

Several types of cumulus. Three photos, stitched together - lost clarity in the process.

Tuesday 6 November 2007

Here's one I prepared earlier






















I got engrossed with stuff and forgot to take a photo today, so this is one I took in November 2005.

Monday 5 November 2007

More of the same

Stratocumulus over Hadleigh (Suffolk) this afternoon. No different from here, except for the trees.

Sunday 4 November 2007

Cumuliform lumpiness

A description used by Cloudman John A Day to describe this sort of sky. This is looking east. I could see the bottom of some interesting cumulus in the distance, looking west, but this is all I had overhead most of the day.

Saturday 3 November 2007

Friday 2 November 2007

November evening


November evening, originally uploaded by Sparrows' Friend.

Stratus all day, and probably all night too.

Thursday 1 November 2007

Hook

This was taken as the sun was setting. The cirrus cloud formed that odd shape as it precipitated - the ice crystals started to fall but were swept along by high winds at a lower altitude.

Low level cloud

Fog is just ground level stratus. This was first thing this morning. It soon cleared.