September 18, 2014

"hallelujah" -- we have clouds in our sky


click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

A cigar shaped cloud passing over Mount Tamalpais Tuesday afternoon.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Some folks will call this a "buttermilk" sky, but more might know it as a "mackerel" sky, getting its name from a resemblance to the speckled skin markings of the Spanish King Mackerel, the fish.





click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Sailors have used this cloud formation for centuries to predict the weather. An old nautical saying is; "Mackerel in the sky, three days dry".
[last image, sunrise over San Pablo Bay, is not new; taken Nov. 14, 2012]


Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 3 will be available October 1
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 1

2 comments:

John @ Beans and I on the Loose said...

...and wet streets in the morning! Yippee!!

AphotoAday said...

JOHN (SINBAD'S DAD) Here in Fairfax we got about 3/8", but we'll need a lot more than that if we are going to a dent in our drought, and dampen these nasty wild-fires burning all over the place. I was asking someone down in the Monterey Peninsula area how much rain they got and it was only a trace.

 
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