Spring in Georgia

Temperatures in the 80s with showers and occasional thunderstorms. Spring in Georgia. Look to the sky and the horizon for building clouds and storms, a feast for weather hungry eyes. 

After the storms pass it may feel steamy or cooler. Sometimes both. The addition of moisture to the modest valleys where the cool waters of the Chattahoochee river flow is the perfect place to see the clouds that form on the ground, otherwise known as fog.  

And finally, after the sun gives all it can to fuel those showers and storms, it says goodnight as the clouds slowly deflate into the darkening sky. 

Spring in Georgia. 

Clouds on the Wing

This was a flight out of Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International Airport on the morning of Saturday, August 9^th.  I watched arriving planes coming out of the clouds and it looked like their wings were on fire, completely covered in smoke. That of course, was not the case. The planes were making clouds. When my flight took off I started recording with my iphone and it started just before I hit record.  Watch the wing carefully you can’t see the entire wing until after the cloud clears as the plane passes through the low cloud layer. 

 

Basically what is happening here is the water vapor in the very humid air condenses because as the air speeds up over the top part of the wing it leads to lower pressure and thus cooler air. The air is cooled enough to reach the dew point forming a cloud.

Storm From The Sky

Flying south past a storm somewhere over South Carolina or Georgia. Looking east.

I took the picture above with my iPhone camera on the pano setting.

 The top of the storm is somewhat obscured but there was plenty of definition in the lower part.

After the Spring Rain

It was a great Sunday to take a closer look after the rain. 

Interesting to see how the surface of the leaves interacted with the water. Some were completely covered with drops and others had just a few.  

Natural Sand Fence

While spending time on sand dunes on the Outer Banks of North Carolina I noticed an obvious example of a wind break or a natural sand fence. 

The grass slows the wind allowing the finer grains of sand to settle on the leeward side of the plant. 
You can think of it as nature's own sand fence. Sand fences are used to manage where sand is deposited, keeping it out of areas like roads or keeping it in areas like beaches to help control erosion. 

SEA to ATL

This is a picture I took flying back to Atlanta from Seattle. It shows a contrail from a plane during a December sunset.



This was a very unique situation where I was able to see a contrail from three sides. Usually when most people see contrails it is from the ground looking up. In this case I saw it as our plane approached it and then from behind and finally from the other side... by the time I got my camera ready we were flying away from it.



Same flight just outside of Seattle and just above the low clouds surrounding the city and Mt. Rainier.



You can see the snow blowing off the top of the mountain with the stronger winds at higher elevation.



This is a picture I took a couple days before flying back to Atlanta. The Argosy coming back to the Kirkland dock.

Fall in Atlanta

Here are some fall pictures I took while on a little nature walk. Incidentally the trail head is only about one hundred yards away from work. The leaves change very slowly, so the fall season is a slow process. I’m told spring is similar in that trees and flowers blossom at varying rates making the season feel longer.



So far, the wildlife I have encountered has been reserved to birds and insects both of which I saw on this walk.




The Cardinal adds some vibrant color to an already active scene.




This is the Chattahoochee river. It was definitely muddy when I first started working during the last week in September when record rain pounded Atlanta. On this day, it had me dreaming of a nice summer day along the banks.