Fringes

The sun catches the edge of some cumulus clouds.

Dramatic sunset

Snow? What snow?

The forecast said I'd have heavy snow today. Seems it's gone elsewhere. Only a few short showers. It is cold though.

Changeable skies

Panorama to the east at about 4.20pm.

Stratocumulus above cumulus clouds, all mixed up together.

Big cumulus clouds lit from behind with thin streaks of stratocumulus above.

An altocumulus cumulogenitus that developed to the east, late in the day. The top of the cloud flattened out due to temperature inversion in the upper atmosphere. Though not as big or powerful as a a cumulonimbus cloud, it's still pretty big. I watched a plane fly underneath it.

Coastal clouds

Some big fat cumulus clouds to the east this afternoon.

Frill

The day started with bright sunshine...

Later...

Big beautiful cumulus clouds at around tea-time today, looking south-east, towards the coast.

Forecast: cloudy with sunny intervals later

Looking south-west at lunchtime, with heaps of cumulus in the distance and altocumulus overhead.

Cloud fold

Some cumulus rolled over as the sun was setting, reflecting the pastel colours.

Bright and beautiful

Click on the image to enlarge it

If you ever bother to look at this blog you'll have noticed that it's been neglected for months. This is mainly because I've hardly been outside for months. I intend to get out more. On the few occasions that I have been out recently, I've missed a couple of photo-opportunities. Sitting in my garden the other day, in conversation with a neighbour over tea, I spotted some cirrocumulus lacunosus overhead. I could have excused myself and rushed in to get my camera, but as my guest was in the middle of telling me something quite personal, it seemed rude to interrupt her, so I didn't. By the time she'd finished her story, the cloud had dispersed. Then, while being driven home by taxi along a busy main road the other day, I spotted some wonderful cumulus heaps. I tried to capture them with my phone but it was impossible, traveling at speed and with road signs and other features in the way, so you'll just have to take my word for it that they were magnificent!

Yesterday I went to the far side of the village to capture some of the abundant cumulus clouds that filled the sky. I tried using my small Fujifilm pocket camera's panorama feature but it was almost impossible to see the instructions onscreen in bright sunlight, especially as my sight's not so hot these days, so the result was due to luck, not judgement. The other shots were more straightforward, with no joins.

Sunny interval

Taken soon after noon, when there were lots of cumulus clouds coming and going. Soon afterwards, they hid the sun.

Wet evening

So far, the New Year has been wet, frosty and foggy - though not all at once. This was the end of a wet afternoon, seen through my window.

Cloud cap

Changeable weather, as forecast, with sunshine and showers. There was a slight cap, or pileus, on this bright cumulus cloud. It came and went quickly, as they do.

The pileus is the thin veil shown by the arrows.

Looking west

Late in the day, looking west, the sky was a jumble of cumuli, moving fast, while in the east the sky was mostly clear.

Today's forecast: heavy rain

But there was sun between the showers...

Taken from my office window, about 15 minutes apart.

Bright ball of cloud

Looked across the gardens behind my house and spied this big bright ball of cumulus partly hidden by a sheet of stratocumulus and some cumulus fractus.

Brilliance amid the gloom

After an overcast sort of day, a gap revealed this burst of brightness at about tea-time.

Strange skies

These passed overhead, moving east, with a few rumbles of thunder, at about 10-ish this morning. The first time I've seen mamma clouds in Suffolk.

My Cloud Book says,

They are caused by powerful downdraughts, when pockets of cold, moist air sink rapidly from the upper to the lower parts of the cloud, reversing the usual cloud-forming convection of warm, humid air. Their shapes and forms can vary considerably, from near-spherical pouches to tubular, rippled or merely undulating globules, arranged in cellular formation.

Reflected sunset

Some heavy showers today. An elderly friend who came for tea arrived soaked to the skin and had to borrow some dry trousers.




The sun shone briefly just before sunset, reflected off distant cumulus clouds.

Drat!

Fooled by morning sunshine and a local weather forecast that didn't predict rain, I hung a lot of washing out to dry. This was the view across the fields from the next village as I drove into town.