Weird Sky Tonight

Here in N. california it was cooler than previous weeks, but unusually humid.

In the morning there were bizarre almost smog like clouds.

Tonight was much more strange.

No stars can be seen, total cloud cover, but they are not typical cumulo nimbus clouds. I believe these are higher altitude and again almost resemble smog.

Also, there appear to be dark patches and much brighter reddish patches, almost as if illuminated, and i dont think its from light pollution, not the Sun, as it is 4:15am and the reddish clouds are to the west and north/south west.

What really got me was what appeared to be tiny white flashes spordically appearing throughout the reddish patches. I saw some faint dark streaking too.

Ball lightning perhaps?

It is also unusually warm for this time of the night.

a reply to: CreationBro

Lots of smoke from wildfires being carried North with monsoon moisture from the south.

Particulates in the smoke can increase likelihood of lightning.

Even got a tiny bit of rain last night just east of Sacramento. Strange for this time of year, especially given the recent heatwave.

a reply to: CreationBro

If you look at the images from orbit Washington, Oregon, and northern parts of California are almost entirely covered in smoke. Very bad PM2.5 from fires. It's a good day to stay inside if you can and will likely be that way into next week.

Yeah I haven't really seen the blue sky or stars for like 4 days. I live on WA's Olympic Peninsula. They're telling us that it's the smoke from the BC, Canada wildfires; which have been burning since April. A million acres so far.

Weather is strange all over.

As I write this, I am sitting in my house in KCMO with all my windows wide open and the fans on because we started out the morning in the low 50s. It won't hit 80 today. This weather will last through the weekend and into the next week.

It's the first week of August which is traditionally the hottest time of the year ...

I'm a bit worried. It feels more like September, late September.

Is this because of the fires too?

originally posted by: CreationBro
Here in N. california it was cooler than previous weeks, but unusually humid.

In the morning there were bizarre almost smog like clouds.

Tonight was much more strange.

No stars can be seen, total cloud cover, but they are not typical cumulo nimbus clouds. I believe these are higher altitude and again almost resemble smog.

Also, there appear to be dark patches and much brighter reddish patches, almost as if illuminated, and i dont think its from light pollution, not the Sun, as it is 4:15am and the reddish clouds are to the west and north/south west.

What really got me was what appeared to be tiny white flashes spordically appearing throughout the reddish patches. I saw some faint dark streaking too.

Ball lightning perhaps?

It is also unusually warm for this time of the night.

They could be Undulatus Asperatus a newly noted type of cloud. (use the link for full size)


files.abovetopsecret.com...


files.abovetopsecret.com...
It's like being underwater and looking up at the undulating surface, and very wispy I've seen them myself, while the picture here doesn't do justice it goes some way.

a reply to: ketsuko

The humidity here in central Texas has been unbearable for the past two weeks running. Not the heat, because it really hasn't been as hot as is typical. Just the humidity and the intensity of the sun when standing directly in it.

Yesterday evening, I was having a smoke on the porch and a wind started to blow out of nowhere. I distinctly smelled autumn, and that wind had a chill to it. I felt it because I was sitting on the bottom porch step, close to the ground, and it was cold enough to give me goosebumps.

I realized that I could hear things skittering down the pavement so I looked at the street and saw all these autumn leaves blowing around. I looked around at all the trees and I'll be damned if they aren't turning color, just like they do in the fall. That's where the scent was coming from.

People think we don't have seasons here like the majority of the rest of the country, but we definitely do. Autumn just arrives quietly here, sort of merging with summer rather than a clear transition...and it generally occurs at the very end of September. I don't know what's going on, but all of the trees seem to think it is late September.

a reply to: tigertatzen

I went to our local weather guy's page. He does a weather blog. This is what it is:



He says this is the temp outlook for at least the next two weeks. He says it may return more to normal by the last week of August, but even then, it may still be 2 yo 3 degrees below normal. He says that doesn't mean we may not see another brief run of 95-100 degree temps with high humidity before the season is done, but ...

a reply to: ketsuko

I don't know what it is about elderly folks that makes them so uncannily accurate about predicting the weather, but our neighbor made the statement last week that it was going to get cold a whole lot earlier than usual this year, and he said it would happen in mid August. His nephew just laughed at him and rolled his eyes, but it looks like he was pretty spot on. However...he said it'll stay that way. I guess we'll get to see if he's right about that too.

originally posted by: tigertatzen
a reply to: ketsuko

I don't know what it is about elderly folks that makes them so uncannily accurate about predicting the weather, but our neighbor made the statement last week that it was going to get cold a whole lot earlier than usual this year, and he said it would happen in mid August. His nephew just laughed at him and rolled his eyes, but it looks like he was pretty spot on. However...he said it'll stay that way. I guess we'll get to see if he's right about that too.

I'd say nothing new under the sun, and older folks have seen years like this one before.

Woah creation bro, you must live pretty close to me! I instantly knew what the thread was about reading the headline. Are you near Sonoma county? This weather sucks, I hate humidity!

Can't say too much about the weather here except for the fact that it's been the rainiest year I've seen in a very long time or maybe even ever. In August, Pennsylvania is usually very hot and dry and we experience drought problems in parts of the state and I know it's only the fourth as I write this, but ever since June I would say that it's been raining at least once almost every single day. I've actually been getting quite concerned because my SO and I have a vacation planned for later this month and since it's been storming so much I'm worried that the ocean will be just too choppy for me to be able to enjoy the beach at all (trucking out to Delaware).

On another aside, last year we didn't really get fall temperature-wise and it was really only winter by about mid December as far as weather where usually we've had snow in October before, like accumulating snow in the past. Last year I remember distinctly it was still in the 80's until late November because I was still running around in short sleeves and still wading the creeks fishing which can normally never happen.

a reply to: smurfy


Beautiful pictures.

originally posted by: ketsuko
Weather is strange all over.

yep, and seems to be getting stranger exponentially.

Over in NW germany we were working on a hot and humid summer then it just chilled about 2 weeks back.

I went from shorts and a tank top in the evening walking the dogs, to long pants and a light jacket.

Sunsets have been unusually colorful as well, kind of close to north texas color in the sky.

originally posted by: bananashooter
Woah creation bro, you must live pretty close to me! I instantly knew what the thread was about reading the headline. Are you near Sonoma county? This weather sucks, I hate humidity!

Yes just a bit south of you near the base of the devil's mountain.