Last clouds of 2007

Mostly stratus, with some bright spots like these tendrils of cumulus ahead of a bank of cloud.

Light and dark

A layer of altostratus at the top, stratocumulus (with "silver lining") at the bottom. A mostly dull day, with some nimbostratus in the area.

Blue sky

The only clouds I saw all day - not that I was looking all the time.

Mixed-up sky

It got windier as the day wore on.

Cirrus

Lots of cirrus. Pretty colours at sunset.

Wet Christmas

It rained all day, so the only cloud was nimbostratus. The view from my back door wasn't very interesting so I've included my washing line to show you how wet it was.

Layers

It may not be clear from this photo but there are two layers of cloud here - the higher cloud is brighter and in smaller fragments, the lower is darker and softer in appearance - and it's moving faster.

Gulls

Like yesterday, quite a lot of cirrocumulus and spreading contrails - could even see those in the moonlight last night - and a layer of stratocumulus came across late afternoon, when these gulls passed by.

Icy sky

Late afternoon, cirrocumulus - high clouds of ice. Some of these streaks are probably the remains of contrails, spread out.

Nothing to see, again

Another grey day...

Cloudless sky

Only the moon in the late afternoon...

Haze

Shot this just outside the village this morning, when skies were grey in all directions with a hazy light. This was an experiment that didn't work, so I removed all the colour.

A rare patch of blue

Mostly overcast, most of today. This gap moved across the sky quite fast.

Sun almost shining

Taken near Ipswich this morning, when the sun was forcing its way through a layer of stratus.

Bright and sunny

Clouds speeding by so high winds today.

Can't remember what happened yesterday, cloud-wise. It's all a bit of blur, apart from writing lots of Xmas cards.

Late colour

Stratus all day, then I noticed this just before it got dark.

Sunrise

As predicted, a fine, dry day - but chilly. Just a few scraps of cumulus in an otherwise clear sky.

Clear cold sunshine

A bright sunny day with clear blue sky, but cold. There were fragments of altocumulus floating about, like this bit of altocumulus stratiformis undulatus (the cloud arranged in parallel lines). A sign that the air high up in the troposphere is warmish and dry was the number of contrails that barely lasted a few minutes, suggesting that the fine weather will continue. The forecast for tomorrow is "sunny".

At sunset there were no clouds to reflect the sun, just a golden glow in the sky.

Cotton wool sky

In between showers, an outbreak of woolliness.

Altostratus transludidus draws a veil

The day began with fractured altocumulus and cumulus humilis, then a sheet of altostratus translucidus came across, which developed into nimbostratus - more rain.

I'm showing off, using all these cloud names, but I just like the sound of them.

Wet and windy

Rained all day. This is the wind blowing through the eucalyptus tree in next door's garden.

Sun & cirrus

Today's weather forecast was "sunny intervals". This was one of them.

Rain clouds

Nimbostratus is a low level cloud that produces rain. Fair weather cumulus doesn't. What's the difference? It's got a lot to do with the size of the water particles, apparently. Whatever, it was wet today.

What happens when you leave the camera at home...

Lots of cloud action today, with cumulus and cumulonimbus, but missed taking a shot of an optical effect, a really bright and colourful parhelia, on my way into town. Note to self: take camera everywhere.

Stratus day

Nothing worth photographing.

Shades of grey and pink

A sky full of nimbostratus means rain.

Rainy afternoon

Blue sky this morning, rain this afternoon.

Odd cloud

It's been a wild and windy day. I hung out of the bedroom window between showers to capture this odd-shaped cloud.

Wet night

The clouds built up during the afternoon. It was raining by early evening.

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.

Just washed my cloud

... and I can't do a thing with it.

Fallstreak hole

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

Altocumulus sky

Nothing to see

Mackerel Monday

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

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.

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.

Sky on fire

The setting sun lit the clouds.

A break in the clouds

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

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.

Soggy sky

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

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.

Distant cumulus

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

Stratus with birds

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