Transition to Winter Skies #SkywatchFriday

It's now winter in this most surprising of years.

As the sun set on the last day of fall, we took a walk by the Susquehanna River.   We didn't have our normally gloomy skies.  It was time for a seasonal transition celebration.

The last sunrise of fall - I missed it again, too busy with getting ready for at home work.  So this was taken too late, but I liked the clouds.

Before I knew it, it was time for the first sunset of winter.

A nice place for a bench.  But I was too uncomfortable to sit and watch.

After I watched the sun disappear and the clouds start to pink up, I was ready for home and a hot drink.

So guess what?  It snowed yesterday (although not much accumulation). It's snowing again right now.  Yes, winter is really here.

Merry Christmas to all my readers who celebrate Christmas.  

Joining Yogi and other skywatchers for #SkywatchFriday.

Big September Clouds #SkywatchFriday

Wednesday, I had to run an errand.

 In downtown Binghamton, New York, the clouds looked so large.

Spouse and I decided, after the errand, to walk on the Vestal Rail Trail Extension.  This is an extension further away from our house than the normal part we walk on, but we thought it would be a good change of pace.

Here's a bridge that goes over Choconut Creek.  I can never seem to photograph this the way I want.  I couldn't get the bridge and the sky both so the bridge is at the far end of where you see the trail.

Locks on one side of the bridge (some on the left side were cut off in this photo).  The collection has grown since I last blogged about it.

Reflection of the clouds in the creek. 

My spouse, who knows his clouds, said the "wrinkles" in the left hand cloud were unusual.
 

I will close with a couple of pictures of wildflowers along the trail.  Here, white asters

And purple asters.

Now, it's October, and I'm hoping for some nice skies (and fall foliage) to bring you.

Joining Yogi and other skywatchers each Friday for #SkywatchFriday.
 

Thunderbirds and Thunderstorms #SkywatchFriday

This weekend, for the first time in years, our area is having an airshow.  The United States Air Force Thunderbirds are the headline performers. 

They are in our area right now, along with other performers, practicing.  And we know this because we heard them this morning, as we exercised walked in a local park.  More about them in a minute.

I hope they get the airshow off, because our weather isn't looking good this weekend. (And no, I didn't buy tickets.)  Like much of the Northeast United States, we've been having a lot of storms and rain.  We have had several flash floods this week.  One town in our county has been hard hit by the floods.  Having been in two floods myself over the years, my heart goes out to them.

Here are some of our recent skies, taken between July 9 and July 14.

Puffy and ugly.

Our river is running brownish.

The muddy river and a downed tree (and some puddles)

Just before a thunderstorm, framed by trees.

Let's hope the power doesn't go out.

I am beginning to fear we may be working up to river flooding, a story for another time.

Anyway, back to the upcoming air show.

My spouse saw four planes in the air, and pointed them out to me.  I hurriedly got my iPhone SE first edition out of my purse and aimed.  I got two pictures. 

 One "barely" has the four planes in it.  It could be the Thunderbirds.  Or maybe not.

The other -no dots, but I figured, it's Skywatch time.  It is nice seeing a sky without a looming thunderstorm in it, even if the Thunderbirds (or whoever they were) are hiding behind that tree.

How was your week?

Joining Yogi and other skywatchers for our Friday Skywatch.

Visiting the River #SkywatchFriday

Where I live in the Southern Tier of New York, it's been stormy.  As I write this (Thursday evening) thousands are still without power but I'm fortunate.  We never lost ours.  Two of our neighbors lost parts of their trees.  One had branches on their porch and car.  Ugh.  Fortunate again, but it reminded us that it could have been us.

So let's go back a week or so.

Down near the river, July 3.  

Clouds above, muddy river below.  As mentioned, we've been having a lot of rainy weather recently.

A man, a boy, and (the dots right "above" them) some geese.

Hard to see, but in the lowest center, a goose sits.  What is he or she thinking?

Those clouds are starting to look not so good.  Time to head back in.

After the storm, cloud reflections on a road that needs just a bit of fixing up.

Joining Yogi and the skywatchers for #SkywatchFriday.

Heat and Clouds #SkywatchFriday

Welcome to the first Skywatch of summer!

It's interesting to see the clouds in the midst of a heatwave.  We in the Northeast United States did not experience the heat of the Pacific Northwest, but it was hot and humid for us, compared to what we normally get at the end of June.  The temperatures were at the time the photos were taken, not necessarily our high for the day.

Monday - 93F (33.8 C), but Tuesday promised to be worse.

Tuesday - 95F when I took this.  It got up to 97 degrees (36.1 C)

Then the storms came. I took this and the next picture just before they hit. We were getting a lot of lightning and I didn't want to be outside for it.

Another angle.

Last storm picture.  It was late in the day, and by the time the storm abated, I didn't really want to go outside.  We had several more thunderstorms (rolling thunder) that night, and some heavy downpours.  We needed the rain.

Wednesday it was hot and sticky, and yes, it ended up raining again.  This cloud made me think of a dragon.

Finally, yesterday, we got relief.  Oh, wonderful 70's.

Joining Yogi and other sky watchers for #SkywatchFriday.

Solstice Clouds #SkywatchFriday

It's the first SkywatchFriday of the summer of 2021.  I had wanted to feature a solstice sunset but Nature had other plans.

These photos were taken along the Susquehanna River in the Southern Tier of New York on the afternoon of this year's summer solstice.  These were some of the final hours of spring.

A peaceful day along the river.

Hmmm. Clouds puffing up.

Goodbye, spring.

Later that day, storms and a cold front came, breaking a heat spell and plunging us back into April weather (brrrr) for the early part of this past week. Now, summer is returning and we'll be back in the 90's by the weekend.  Fortunately, we aren't getting the heat the West is getting.

Joining Yogi and other sky watching bloggers at #SkywatchFriday. Why not visit some of the other sky watching bloggers and enjoy what they have to offer?

June Storm Clouds Abound #SkywatchFriday

For most of this week I stayed close to home - for us and a lot of people in this country, it was a week of heat (although my readers in India and other truly hot places would laugh at what we call "heat").  But, after work, I ventured out, where the thunderstorms were starting to build.

I took these pictures June 7 and June 8.

Thunderhead building June 7. 

This storm did not hit us. 

The next day, there was another chance of thunderstorms.  Let's take a walk, shall we?

Here's where we start.

A little further along the walk.

Uh-oh.  This doesn't look good.

Walk cancelled.

This storm didn't produce much rain or thunder, but subsequent ones did, so much so that our area was under a flash flood warning at one point.  But, it was all good in the end - we got some much-needed rain.  There are cooler temperatures ahead today, maybe.

Joining Yogi and other sky loving bloggers at #SkywatchFriday.

Celebrating White and Blue #SkywatchFriday

Where I live in New York State, blue skies and the sun are infrequent visitors.  Any appearance of either is usually accompanied by bitter cold, unpleasant weather with even more chilling breezes.

But not on January 9, and my spouse and I decided to take a walk on the Vestal Rail Trail.

Snow on either side, the sky looks like a painting.

Bare trees have a special character.

A sumac bush (see red things on the left) still displays its cone shaped clusters.

Along the trail, water flowed.  Imagine that, free water (and not frozen solid) in January.

One more view. 

When will we see this again?

Joining up with Yogi and the other sky loving bloggers over at #SkywatchFriday.

Rainbow Redux #SkywatchFriday

Earlier in June, I had posted some rainbow pictures.  Happy to say, the rainbow cloud makers weren't done with me yet.

On July 1, about an hour before sunset, we were treated to another rainbow - looked like a double rainbow to me.  Just look in the lower right hand corner of these shots.

When I first noticed it, I had my phone with me.  Right place at the right time, once again.

I moved over a few feet and it got better.  I've made my peace with powerlines in my shots, by the way.  It is what it is.

Looks similar to the first picture but the clouds are moving.

Rainbow is starting to disappear, even as the sky blues up.

Last shot.  A few moments later it was gone.

Nice way to celebrate the beginning of the month.

Joining up once again with Yogi and the other sky watching bloggers of #SkywatchFriday.