Sights like the one above depicting a vivid sunset over the Rincon Mountains are relatively rare here – after all, this is a desert ecosystem, and the first requirement for a memorable sunset is a sky strewn with clouds.
Yesterday evening brought just such a sky, festooned with three distinct layers of clouds – low, mid-altitude, and high altitude clouds. As our world steadily rotated eastward, away from the setting sun, strong winds began to sculpt bands of high cirrostratus clouds into undulating threads of radiant color. These clouds are composed entirely of ice crystals capable of diffracting sunlight into its vibrant, full spectra. A closer look into the constantly changing palette of moving colors. As the sunset peaked, wisps of clouds more than four miles high tangoed with the wind, wrought into life by a spellbinding blend of motion and neon colors.The following morning brought another show of beautiful natural light. Photo by Kathleen Waldt. Mike, (one of our pair of resident Chihuahuan ravens), caught in the warm glow of early morning sunlight, admiring the rainbow arcing over his spacious world of Earth and open sky. Photo by Kathleen Waldt.
