Here in Mount Shasta we have had a great run of weather for nearly a month now. April seemed to dive right into summer, with warm temperatures and fantastically sunny weather. Considering it is still spring, this seemed like it was too good to be true and that the excellent conditions were destined to change at some point. That point is upon us. The forecast for the next week and beyond is for rain and significantly colder temperatures, dropping down to near freezing at night. Spring persists here in Mount Shasta.
Of course, a significant shift in weather patterns means a significant change of a lenticular event. This was certainly the case today, where a variety of cloud formations manifested, dissipated and reformed over the mountain through out the day.
The morning started with a small but obvious wave hovering just off Mount Shasta. It wasn’t much but it was an indicator that the systems were indeed in flux:
Throughout the day, disks continued to take shape around Mount Shasta. They ranged from massive waves to tight stacks of small lens shaped disks. I was occupied with various tasks throughout the day and could not get away to capture them. In the early afternoon the entire sky was overcast and the sun was heavily filtered. This eventually burned off in time for the sunset . The clouds looked impressive but their rate of change was swift. I was able to slip away just before the sun went down. Things weren’t quite at their peak but it still made for an interesting scene:
Clouds blocked the light from setting Mount Shasta alight with alpenglow. It was not meant to be but there was still an impressive sunset, especially looking to the west. As the sun went down, other lenticulars were lit up. It was a beautiful sight. Hopefully we get one more good sunset before the clouds really settle in for a week or so.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether we get any good sunsets as a result of the incoming storm system but we certainly did get an interesting sunrise. The small cloud that had remained aloft above Mount Shasta at sunset had grown into a massive stack of waves. It was too overcast to allow much color on the clouds but the earliest moments of sunrise did light up the bottom of the stack. It wasn’t much color but it was enough to make things interesting. There were plenty of other formations in the area as well, most notably an impressive stack of disks near Black Butte. I will miss the warm weather for the next few days but the awesome vision in the sky is definitely some compensation!
