Some of the most evocative skyscapes on the Great Plains happen behind storms. This strange light came about in the form of two storm complexes—one following closely behind the other. The slate blue-gray veil in the distance was a large shield of rain and clouds from the first storms, which started as a training series of supercells that formed on and near a lee trough and the Raton Mesa, well to the south. Meanwhile, a smaller area of convection erupted on the Front Range and churned its way across a pocket of unstable air not affected (at first) by the bigger complex. The cloud material occupying the top third of this view is the back side of a shelf cloud trailing from the secondary cluster, and moving quickly away. This was fortuitously timed: a few minutes later, or a few miles farther down the road, and this scene would have been lost forever, never known.
1 NNE Aroya CO (26 May 19) Looking E
38.8701, -103.1209
Aroya Light
Some of the most evocative skyscapes on the Great Plains happen behind storms. This strange light came about in the form of two storm complexes—one following closely behind the other. The slate blue-gray veil in the distance was a large shield of rain and clouds from the first storms, which started as a training series of supercells that formed on and near a lee trough and the Raton Mesa, well to the south. Meanwhile, a smaller area of convection erupted on the Front Range and churned its way across a pocket of unstable air not affected (at first) by the bigger complex. The cloud material occupying the top third of this view is the back side of a shelf cloud trailing from the secondary cluster, and moving quickly away. This was fortuitously timed: a few minutes later, or a few miles farther down the road, and this scene would have been lost forever, never known.
1 NNE Aroya CO (26 May 19) Looking E
38.8701, -103.1209