Despite being rather readily accessible, Ruby Beach is one of the most stunning seashores in a region profusely festooned with them: Washington's Olympic Peninsula. In just a few visits, this little swath of coastline has offered wondrous experiences for me, day and night, and in between, but especially around sunset. On this sublime evening, the chill of the marine boundary layer, tolerable … [Read more...]
Shower from a Tower, Beyond the Blowing Sand
The same process caused both the blowing sand atop the nearby dunes and the deep towering cumulus in the background: an outflow pool, heaved forth by thunderstorms in mountains to the distant left. Though a small rain core descended from these towers, the rain would be short-lived and sparse for anyone beneath, as so often is the case in the Tularosa Basin (containing White Sands National … [Read more...]
Icelandic Dust Devil
Yes, dust devils can happen in moist, cool Iceland! A large field of black, alluvial, volcanic sand, heated several hours under summer sunshine, can generate enough shallow instability to spin up dust devils–even in air that feels chilly to the touch. [Mars has these too. Its atmosphere is over 100 times thinner than Earth's at the surface, and rivals Antarctica for coldness, but its gets dust … [Read more...]
Fate of the Old Homestead
Like many old Great Plains homesteads, the main dwelling here slowly decays away, a relic of a time when opportunity and promise of the good times and wetter years hit the harsh reality of dry-land agriculture in this drought-prone, windswept, volcano-studded corner of New Mexico. In the distance, Palo Blanco Mountain and adjoining highlands stand watch. Storms like this, and the cold winter … [Read more...]
Sunset through Outflow
The final "non-monsoon" chase of the 2019 season for me ended like this: a wondrously textured, south-southeastward-moving complex of outflow-surfing thunderstorms, layered with laminar and convective elements, atop a high and undulating base, fresh outflow rushing forth in a soothing wind song. The idea of Tucumcari in July is a hot one; however, on this evening, a cool and moist breeze kept … [Read more...]
Sanctuary from the Storm
In troubled times, we seek sanctuary from the storms of life. Many of us choose to do so in the God who inspired this church. Completed in 1897 with stone taken from the flanks of the High Plains mesa on which it stands, the St. Johns Methodist Episcopal Church stands today as a well-maintained legacy of worship, reverentially restored several times, while enduring countless hundreds of similar … [Read more...]
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