Chagrin River Park: Man-Made Beauty

The sun finally came out after what seemed like an endless streak of gloomy weather. We decided to take a walk in Chagrin River Park, which is part of the Lake Metroparks. There was still plenty of snow cover so there wasn’t much to see except a frozen Chagrin River, bare trees, and dormant vegetation.  I decided to try to find something visually interesting in the man-made scenery in and around the park. The pedestrian bridge makes for a nice view of the Chagrin River, but it was the bridge itself that stood out from all the ice and snow. The stairs to the sledding area brought some visual interest to the blank white of the hill. And, the nearby towers for the high tension power lines looked like metal giants walking through the cold, open space. Here are a few photos.

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Diamond Dust Snow

This morning, it was about 15 degrees with a bright, sunny sky. There were tiny ice crystals flying through the air, making “diamond dust” snow. I managed to catch some of this weather phenomenon on video. The ice crystals were only visible when looking at them directly into the run, otherwise, it looked like perfectly clear air. In the video, some crystals look large but I think this is just the camera catching the flashes of light as the crystals flew past the lens.




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A Pileated Woodpecker Visits

This afternoon, a female Pileated Woodpecker was pounding away on some of the pine trees in our yard. I was fortunate enough to grab a quick photo before this lovely, large bird flew into more dense cover.

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Thundersnow in Mentor Ohio

A slightly freakish heavy lake effect snow event came through northeast Ohio today, bringing us 10” of snow in just a few hours including about an hour and a half of periodic, noisy thundersnow. Here’s a video where I captured one flash of lightning and its clap of thunder while the snow was falling in a heavy burst. Enjoy!



(Short version I posted on Vine)


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Stargazing: Orion, Taurus, and Ursa Major (with The Big Dipper)

This is a great time of year for stargazing and for star photography. Orion is clearly visible (in the southern sky), as are many other constellations. With cool temperatures and a clear night, I spent some time taking photographs of the constellations Orion, Ursa Major (with The Big Dipper), and Taurus, with the Pleiades nearby. Here are a few photos that were taken about 2 hours before sunrise. (Click on any image for a larger view.)


Orion

The Big Dipper

Orion (wide view of southern sky)

Taurus & The Pleiades

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Partial Solar Eclipse in Ohio

Here are some photos I took today of the partial solar eclipse at Mentor Headlands Beach in Mentor, Ohio. The sun was nearing its peak of the partial eclipse as the sun was reaching the horizon, and it dropped into thin clouds.(Click on any image for a larger view.)

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A Windy Shockwave In The Clouds

There was a beautiful sunrise this morning so I decided to take a few photos. While I was outside, the wind ramped up quickly with a few stiff gusts. Not more than a minute later, I looked at the sunrise and a cloud line quickly formed, mirroring the direction of the wind that had just blasted through seconds earlier. It was like watching a windy shock wave move through the sky. Here are a few photos.

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