Winter Light

December was warmer than usual. There were a few cold snaps but in general i spent a lot of time walking the dog either in ice free Turnagain Arm or ice trails in balmy temperatures.

December is of course our darkest month. Where i live in Anchorage we get about 5 1/2 hours of direct sunlight. Drive up to Fairbanks and you can shave two hours off of that. The sun is so low that sunrise and sunset can take well over an hour in terms of the colors in the sky.

I kept walking out at 3pm and seeing sights like this so i decided i needed to get off my butt and see these things happen.

This December (2014) we had a lot of dynamic weather, and those skies made for some incredible sunsets. Day after day i was stunned at the clouds and colors, and while i was stuck at work many of those days i finally began taking my camera with me or making some time to enjoy them when they occurred. While most people were complaining about a lack of snow i have to say the brilliant colors occurring every day made it the best December i can remember up here.

Sunset on the Kenai.

Sunrise over Cook Inlet.

O'Malley gets shadows running across it at unique low angles in December and January.

There are fairly often lenticular clouds off the front range. I made a gif of this one but i didn't have time to put it up here. Here are three forms of the same cloud over about 11 minutes.

This was a particularly dramatic scene that unfolded as the sun went down. At times it looked like a funnel cloud was emerging. This took up a huge portion of sky.

People say this looks upside down.

I've noticed that my Canon M3 cannot properly record the rosy pink to peach range of a good sunset. Either that or my monitor can't produce the color. I wonder if the new Canon 5Ds will be able to do that....