"You want it to be one way. But it's the other way."
A cool-down today from a warm week–highs in the low 80s the last couple days, in the low 60s today. A little bit of a breeze from the coast. And then in the afternoon, clouds. A species of altocumulus, I think. (Which species? Well, that looks like it might be complicated to work say.) I went up on the house to get a clear shot to the west over the houses across the street. I observed the clouds and also the very pronounced undulations of our 91-year-old rooftop.
We had weather this week: genuine early season rain that began Monday and persisted on and off through Thursday. Genuine rain meant occasional glimpses of genuine storm clouds like these–something you might take for granted if you’re vantage point is the Midwest, the South, or the East, but are an event here on the very edge of the lip of the West Coast. This shot: on the Eastshore Freeway frontage road, just south of University Avenue in Berkeley.
Related link: Coming Attractions: Autumn Rain
Flew back home last night, a flight that lifted off on O’Hare’s eastbound runway 9R at 6:35 p.m. CDT, circled north, then climbed into a long westering sunset and twilight. We had cloud cover most of the way, but got glimpses of the Fox River, the Rock River, and the Mississippi. More gliimpses: Iowa farms, the North Platte River, Interstate 25 north of Denver. Further west, saw Utah Lake and the cities of Provo and Orem in the dusk. Then mostly blank, dark countryside until we crested the Sierra Nevada, where the lights of the foothills and Central Valley, the Livermore Valley and the Bay Area, all shone.
My seven Chicago days went fast. My dad is prone to what I might euphemistically call confusion about some day-to-day events (a confusion that does not extend to all things, though. When we drive around Chicago, he’s generally pretty quick to answer requests for navigation help). I had told him I was leaving Thursday and reminded him of that a couple times before yesterday. I kept him abreast of my preparations to go yesterday. Still, he twice expressed surprise when I appeared with my suitcase and satchel and said I was heading out. “You are?” he said. “When are you coming back?”
“When would you like me to come back?” I asked. “Tomorrow!” he said. Soon, I hope. But today, here I sit, 1,836 air miles away.
We at Infospigot Information Services are great fans of the evening sky, but we’re not often out and about to report on dawn-time sky conditions. This morning was the exception to that rule. According to the National Weather Service area forecast discussions, there’s some sort of low spinning off the coast and sending in a stream of moisture from the southwest, which takes shape as unusually high, fluffy, and abundant clouds hereabouts (are typical cloud cover in the summer months is a dense bank of low stratus). It’s also a warm, muggy morning, also atypical of our Mediterranean climatic regime.
This morning, from Chavez Park on the Berkeley waterfront, via my phone camera. I was down there with The Dog after dropping Kate off to catch the train to Sacramento. After the sun rose, this big smoke-ring-like thing was visible over the city, drifting south with all the other mornng clouds. Yes, those are steam plumes rising from west Berkeley, but they didn’t appear to have anything to do with the cloud overhead. Between this apparition and the Eugene contrails the other day, I’m getting ready for the next part of the message.
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