Covid Respite #17 - Clouds at Sunrise over the Sandia Mountains

 

For this Covid Respite all I had to do was step out my back door with camera in hand (well, actually, on a tripod).

Occasionally -- maybe a couple of times a month -- the clouds and the sun out here combine for a beautiful sunrise.  Last week we had one of those mornings.

Early on, it didn't look too promising:  heavy dark clouds overhead and all the way beyond the Sandia Mountains (about 10 miles away).

The clouds here generally move from west to east, and can block the sun at the horizon behind the mountains, so I wasn't optimistic.  But sometimes the clouds dissipate as the sun comes up because the air is so dry.  Any warmth at all, and they evaporate.

As the sky brightened, I could see interesting textures on the underside of the overcast:

Although it was calm at ground level, clearly there was a lot of wind action up there:

The cloud bank was beginning to shrink from the northeast (left side of the image below) . . .

 . . . but was still strong and interesting to the southeast:

As the sun came up, the cloud bank began to shrink significantly . . .

. . . and six minutes later it was almost completely gone:

In 29 minutes it went from this . . .

                                  . . . to this:

The show was over, but it was a good one!

If you would like to see these images in a larger format, please visit my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.

Enjoy!