Mammatus Clouds and Pink Rainbows

There were large thunderstorm systems that came through the area on Saturday night and Sunday night. They were both good opportunities to get some interesting cloud pictures. One picture (below) was taken of forming mammatus clouds. The other big bonus was a very late evening rainbow, which occurred at 9:00 PM ET, probably the latest I have ever seen a rainbow form. As the sun was just at the horizon, the sky and the dull rainbow carried a very pink cast (photo below). For a weather watcher like me, it was an interesting sight to see. Check out my blog home page for the latest information, here.

The Full Moon Transitions Spring to Summer

All photos by Chris Zimmer

It was one of those nice mornings where the sky was clear, the dawn was pleasant, and the moon was full. I got out the camera and spotting scope and snapped some nice pictures of the moon, first with the black sky before dawn, and then with a bluer sky as the sun rose. As the moon dropped lower, there was a little more distortion from the atmosphere, but it still made for some nice pictures. In some of the photos, the moon took on strange colors as the moon dropped lower in the horizon and the sun rose. Today transitioned the last day of spring AND the first day of summer, and it was an extra treat to see such a bright full moon. An added bonus is that at one point, the moon was very close in the sky field to the planet Jupiter. With the spotting scope, Jupiter and one of its moons could be seen clearly (but not photographed with the equipment I had, much to my dismay).

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