bowtie`

You are going to hate me. 0.63" of cold rain here in my tippy bucket north of KIND.

0.77" of rain at the house. Seeing how there was some issues with the radar at KIND I have no idea how it compared to the rest of the area.

0.72" in the tippy bucket today. One county north of me had 2+ by the radar estimates.

Sorry but color me wrong then.

weatherfella, can we get a solstice update?

One of these are soon to be the last of the year. But not just yet. Tonight, the stratus broke up right around sunset. When I got out to the back of the firehouse, looking south. Taken with the 24-70mm at 67mm... With the stratus being so low the best color was the yellow color. Taken with the 24-70mm at 42mm... What little cloud action there was post sunset. Taken with the 100mm...

Did Bing ever sing " I'm dreaming of a brown Christmas"? He should have.

Is Rochester like here in Indiana? Here if we are under a tornado watch and you get a severe thunderstorm warning, they fire off the sirens.

Kind of similar this evening again. But today the ridge was flatter. And the cirrus was in the similar altitude of the contrails, 30 to 40,000 feet, as there as a lot more contrail action this evening. Started off around local sunset. taken with the 24-70mm at 38mm... The orange starting to seep into the frame. Taken with the 24-70mm at 38mm... Max color dynamics with the inclusion of the reds. Taken with the 24-70mm at 38mm... The fading reds and colors. Taken with the 24-70mm at 70mm... Cheers!

A very photogenic evening. Some cirrus rode over the top of the ridge and fell on top of me right around sunset. Placing and timing were perfect. Starting off with the yellow as I got to behind the firehouse right after sunset. Taken with the 24-70mm at 63mm... The orange. Taken with the 24-70mm at 70mm... The red starting to drift in from the east. Taken with the 24-70mm at 28mm... Max red on the horizon. Taken with the 24-70mm at 50mm... Even the incidental light was gorgeous. Taken with 24-70mm at 61mm... Cheers!

OK, I just found tenths of degrees here at KIND. Currently at meridian the Sun angle is 27.1 degrees. It will go down to 26.8 on the 19th and will not increase to 26.9 until the 24th. So still twelve days until the sun angle increases here. As a side note we are currently 91,517,000 miles from the Sun. That will continue to decrease until Jan. 2nd when we hit 91,407,000 miles and does not increase until Jan. 6th.

You do know we live on a round planet, right?

Here at KIND the sun angle fell to the lowest (27 degrees) at meridian on December 7th. Will not increase back to 28 degrees until January 4th. So, we still have around thirty days until the angle is increasing. Your latitude will vary I suppose.

1.64" in the tippy bucket overnight.

Was not a comfortable day outside with the camera today. After the cold front passage and with the winds gusting in the 30's it just as not a nice day to be outside. But the clouds pulled me out there for they were quite photogenic. Started after lunch as the cumulus deck was being shredded by the winds and dry air. Taken with the 24-70mm at 24mm... Here you can contrast and compare between lens. This is taken with the 16-35mm at 16mm. And the clouds were really swooping... Now onto the sunset stuff. Just as I got out to behind the firehouse. Taken with the 24-70mm at 70mm... The contrail in the upper right added a nice bit of something else to this image. Taken with the 24-70mm at 70mm... Last image before I got too cold and called it a night. Taken with the 24-70mm at 63mm... Cheers!

Temps have been climbing since sunset. A rather strange occurrence for this time of year. Rain and almost 60 feels nice.

Interesting. I know that Minneapolis gets the rumblers quite often. Does the lake squash all those chances from getting close from the southwest?

Meanwhile, Back Home Again in Indiana had a high of 49 and currently 32 with clear skies in case you had a hankering for some of the old time weather. Which you will not but I still will put it out there.

Got to try out my new 24-70mm lens this evening with a sunset. The Sun rounded the corner of the cloud deck right at sunset. How convenient! Started off with the yellows. Taken with the 24-70mm at 50mm... Beginning of the orange/red up high. Taken with the 24-70mm at 47mm... Reds in full swing. Taken with the 24-70mm at 70mm... The fading color. Taken with the 100mm... Cheers!

Thanks for the hints. Still no joy. So today I made a trip downtown and got me a new 24-70mm lens. What a difference. The one that died was a Mark I issue. It was nicknanmed "The Brick" for a good reason. It was heavy. So heavy that if that lens was on the camera and I was going to move the tripod. I would take that lens off of the camera and put a lighter lens on. No Joke. This new lens is a Mark II issue and much lighter. Also, it is more in-line color wise with my other Mark II lens. The old 24-70mm images just looked different. Of course, it was designed back in the film days and film has a completely different color response than a sensor. But I am a happy camper now even if a bit lighter in the wallet. Guess I gave myself and early Ho-Ho-Ho gift.

Now for the post sunset colors. Looking west as the colors get going. Taken with the 16-35mm at 21mm... A closer inspection of the western clouds. Taken with the 100mm... The reds looking east. Taken with the 16-35mm at 25mm... Cheers!

Was on the edge of the system just to my east all day. Question was would it hold for the sunset or would the dry air win and scuttle the clouds. Mid-afternoon when the cumulus rolled in from Lake Michigan. The bank next door. Taken with the 16-35mm at 29mm... The white when I arrived at the firehouse this *evening* looking west. Taken with the 16-35mm at 35mm... Looking east. Taken with the 100mm...

nope. No soon fix. I had hoped that it was just a cold-soaking problem but leaving it alone inside all week the error just repeated when I tried the lens again. It is cooked for good. Probably be easier to just get another new lens. Trouble was last week I drove to the camera store and they had closed the store closest to me. The main store in downtown Indy is still open. Now I only have to decide to try it now when the roads are good or after the holidays when the road might me a mess. Decisions, decisions. P.S. Red skies at night, photographers delight.

Winter is coming. Saw two signs this afternoon. The lillac shrubs are losing their leaves and the sandhill cranes were honking their way back south.

Time for the Eurythmics?