8 November 2022
This week southwestern Pennsylvania witnessed many atmospheric effects from clear skies to troubled clouds, rainbows and a total lunar eclipse. Here are the stories behind six pictures.
- Total lunar eclipse, 8 Nov 2022, 5:29am, photo through my birding scope. The sky was hazy and I am terrible at digi-scoping so by the time I got a decent shot of the moon it was leaving my view. But you get the idea.
- Atmospheric optics around the sun, 5 Nov 2022, 9:20am, Yellow Creek State Park, PA. Ice crystals in the clouds produced two sun dogs, a 22 degree halo, and a circumzenithal arc (upside down rainbow at top). Click on the links to read about each phenomenon.
- Layers of troubled clouds, 5 Nov 2022, 5:45pm: Later that same day two layers of clouds raced overhead in gusty wind. The lower layer threatened rain at the horizon while the upper layer glowed in sunlight.
- Light mist over the Monongahela River at Duck Hollow, 3 Nov 2022, 10am.
- Rainbow over Pittsburgh, 6 Nov 2022, 1pm: On Sunday I hiked at Hays Woods with Linda Roth (in foreground) and the 40 Acres AKA Hays Woods Enthusiasts. We got caught in a brief downpour but there was a Big Sky reward: a beautiful rainbow.
- The sky glows before sunrise on a clear day, 7 Nov 2022, 6:27am.
Keep looking up for more atmospheric effects.
(photos by Kate St. John)