We were out at Finn River Farm (in Chimacum, Washington, about 10 miles south of Port Townsend) getting some dinner and were waiting outside. It was the first weekend in November and we were very lucky to get a sunny day. Even luckier was to be treated to this natural light show. The other folks that were around didn’t seem to have even noticed. This solar halo occurs when the sunlight is reflected by ice crystals high in the atmosphere.
The previous post showed the smoke from the Bear Gulch fire being blown into the Hurricane Ridge area of the Olympic National Park where we were hiking. Before the smoke got dense, there were some interesting shots available showing atmospheric effects from lesser amounts of smoke. The image above is looking east across the Elwha River valley to the Bailey Range and just the very top of Mt Olympus. Below is from the same time/location but looking south down the valley of the Elwha.
I thought the streaking clouds were wonderful and then a solar bar showed up and made it even better. Taken in Olympia, Washington … and this is a sunset.
While many crepuscular rays show the rays coming up from the horizon, you can often see examples of rays coming down through holes in cloud cover. Especially with the panoramic image at the bottom, clicking on it to get an expanded view is quite helpful. All images are from in or around Olympia, Washington. The top and bottom images are from the same day … around midday in late December.
This is the Coupeville Ferry Terminal and I was catching the ferry on my way home to Port Townsend, WA. I take photos of crepuscular rays whenever I get a chance … this one has an interesting difference between the left and right sides.