Not So Green......

After looking promising for most of the afternoon, the conditions died away on Friday evening, though this was still worth sharing from out north of Creswick. Nothing is looking too green at the moment, especially "Green Hill"....so I thought I'd try a black and white version as well.

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Yellow

I've noticed the last few days are quite yellow...and Thursday was no exception, in fact even more so. I was out on the lower slopes of My Warrenheip and found some well placed wildlife, and with a big fire raging in Ballarat (the Plaster Fun House was burning down!) the skies took on even more intense colour. Always something different shows up when you get out and about, though earlier on there were no clouds around at all, so I was pretty happy to come home with this set. And the heatwave continues.......!

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Lake Learmonth's Lower Levels

Out to Lake Learmonth on Wednesday evening, and its surprising just how much the water level has dropped since my last visit only a couple of weeks ago. At this rate, and with another heatwave here now, it will be dry very soon. Lets hope we are not heading back to the conditions of a few years ago.

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Windy Lake Wendouree

Tuesday was one of the windiest days I can remember, ever, anywhere. The wind was relentless from the night before and all through the day. Hardly any clouds around all day....fortunately a few developed right on sunset up at Lake Wendouree, so I battled the onslaught to grab a few late images.

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The New Moon

The current heatwave came to an end on Monday, so by the time I headed out to Lake Burrumbeet in the evening it was back on with the jumpers and coats. This fantastic sunset was a bit of a surprise as a bit earlier it looked like we could be greyed out. One of the reasons I go back to Burrumbeet so often is that its the place to be when you're not expecting much, and then by being  there just at the right time you get something very special. Whilst a very nice image in itself, its the addition of the new moon here that really adds that extra wow factor, so though I missed out on the moon a couple of nights earlier, I think this really makes up for it. 

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The Clouds - Awesome and Ominous

After another very hot day where it reached 40C, the clouds moved in after lunch, and by 7.45pm when I hit the road they were looking very awesome and ominous. I headed north of town out Gillies Road to an area known as Glendonald and found a couple of locations that produced some terrific formations. In the third one here there are some rare anti-crepuscular sunrays, and how about that spaceship in the last one?! And if you're wondering about anti-crepuscular rays, read on.....

Whilst they may not know the name, most cloudspotters will have noticed ‘crepuscular rays’. These are the radiating beams of sunlight that appear to burst from behind a Cumulus cloud, or shine down through a hole in a Stratocumulus. These appear when the path of sunlight is made visible by atmospheric water droplets too scarce to appear as cloud, but plentiful enough to noticeably scatter the light. The shadows of the clouds give edges to the sunbeams. The perspective, as the rays approach, makes them appear to radiate outwards. Crepuscular rays are a common and beautiful sight.

Much more rare are ‘anti-crepuscular rays’, like the fine example shown below. These appear to emanate not from the sun, but from the point on the horizon directly opposite it. Cloudspotters will, therefore, only see anti-crepuscular rays when they stand with the sun directly behind them. The shadows of individual clouds behind the cloudspotter are cast onto the cloud layer in front. As the shadows and rays recede to the horizon, perspective makes them appear to converge at the point opposite the sun even though they are in fact parallel.

Some call crepuscular rays ‘God’s fingers’. Does this mean anti-crepuscular rays are the ‘digits of the Devil’?

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Not What I Was Planning For......

After a very hot Saturday I headed out to Lake Burrumbeet to catch the new crescent moon.....alas, it was no where to be seen so I had a play around in the water amongst the rapidly changing new shoreline as the water continues to fall with the extreme hot weather we are getting this summer. 
A real scorcher forecast for Sunday...we may make it to a summer high.

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