Wednesday Vignette: Scanning the horizon

Late Tuesday morning last week, I spent a couple of hours working in the garden before finally deciding I needed to take a break for breakfast.  Standing at the kitchen window, I scanned the horizon and noticed noticed an unusual cloud formation.  Actually, it wasn't the shape of the clouds but rather their color that was surprising.  Once I decided I wasn't imagining things, I grabbed my mobile phone and snapped a couple of shots, then followed up with my "good" camera.  I posted a photo on Instagram last week but I thought the photos I captured with my DSLR camera were better.

The effect is known as a "fire rainbow," although it's not technically a rainbow and doesn't have any relationship to fires.  In scientific terms, it's called a circumhorizontal arc.  It's created by ice crystals in high-level clouds like these wispy cirrus clouds when the sun is at a low angle.  It's most common in midsummer and more likely at some latitudes than others.  For example, one source I consulted stated that it is five to ten times more likely to be seen in Los Angeles than in London.

I don't know how long it was visible before I noticed it but it disappeared even before I mentioned it to my husband (but then I did take several photos before I hailed him)

I'm glad I got the cloud shots as there's no telling when or if I'll see such cloud special effects again.  Yesterday afternoon, sitting in my home office, another view caught me by surprise: a cruise ship sitting in port.  Under normal circumstances, that's a common sight during summer but this isn't a normal time.  I checked online and verified that ocean cruise ships are still not authorized to sail with passengers but a Port of Los Angeles site that lists all ships in port (as well as those scheduled for arrival or departure) showed me that the Norwegian Jewel arrived shortly before I noticed it.

I decided to try my telephoto lens for this shot.  It delivered a much clearer view of the ship than my usual shots from the back garden.

The ship is scheduled to be in port for less than ten hours so I assume they're just picking up supplies.  The ships were placed under a 100-day "no sail order" on March 14th.  This was extended once through July 24th but another extension is expected this week.  The Norwegian Cruise Line has apparently suspended passenger trips until at least October.  How weird it must be to sail the ocean without passengers for months at a time.  Talk about going crazy!  By comparison, even with the prospect of another shutdown here, we're pretty lucky.

Everything is relative.

For more Wednesday Vignettes, visit Anna at Flutter & Hum.


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