Naturally spectacular skies

When we think of skies, we often think of blue sky with white clouds. As adults we often forget to appreciate the natural beauty available to us simply by looking up.

happy sky union station st louis

There are many other types of skies, of course. For the past ten days, we’ve had lots of turbulent weather here in the Midwest (St. Louis). We’ve seen thunderstorms almost every day. We’ve also see lots of sun, and we’ve seen many of combinations of bright sun while new storms were brewing. It makes for some spectacular skies. I couldn’t help noticing and photographing the dramatic cloud formations.

Sky Storm Panorama

The photo above is actually a stitching together of three photos, looking to the north from a midtown St. Louis overpass. If you click on it you’ll get a much better view (you are invited to click on any of these, to enlarge them).

sky and airplane

The above photo was taken by Charlotte, my seven year old daughter, who exclaimed that the huge clouds dwarfed the airplane.

Charlotte took this one too:

stormy sky

She snapped the photo out of the car window, which you can see from the blurred telephone pole.

I took the photo below outside my office window today. The formations changed so dramatically and so often that I found myself glancing out the window repeatedly. It made me feel like a kid that I was taking the time to notice the vista. It’s like living in a lava lamp.

turbulent sky downtown st louis1

If it weren’t that we so often have the chance to see spectacular skies, we’d stop taking them for granted. If they occurred only once each year, we’d probably gather outside to stare at the skies on that special night–we’d probably even create a holiday for that day where all of us would show up with our cameras. We’d sing special cloud songs and eat special cloud-watching food.

Truly, the colors, the formations and the movement make Fourth of July fireworks look amateurish.

swirling sky

Maybe we should even cancel the fireworks this Fourth of July to remind each other that we can also be peaceful people. We really could start to celebrate our peaceful moments as well as our war-like history. And we can do it with naturally-occurring glorious backgrounds many days each year.

sunbeams barnes hospital

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Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth is an attorney focusing on civil rights (including First Amendment), consumer law litigation and appellate practice. At this website often writes about censorship, corporate news media corruption and cognitive science. He is also a working musician, artist and a writer, having founded Dangerous Intersection in 2006. Erich lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his two daughters.

This Post Has 6 Comments

  1. Avatar of A.C.
    A.C.

    Wow! If I were a primitive human from 4000 years ago with zero knowledge of the physical world around me, I'd have to attest this epic beauty to higher being with power beyond my comprehension…hehe. Great pics though.

  2. Avatar of Dan Klarmann
    Dan Klarmann

    I finally put something on YouTube. But I can't get it to render as well up there as on my desktop; the sky loses a lot of its character.

    Watch the clouds, especially when the film seems to pause overlong.

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=WzcMjdrEGjs

    This is my first attempt to edit video from a cheap digital camera as part of a larger project I plan to put on YouTube in the near future. It's just a drive from my neighborhood to my favorite scrap yard shown in a minute and a half. I slow it down a bit only when passing a local landmark, lest anyone misses it. Otherwise, we're driving at about 600 miles per hour.

  3. Avatar of Candace Uhlmeyer
    Candace Uhlmeyer

    I like the idea of not watching fireworks on the Fourth, although if you go to a baseball game they're unavoidable. Given your current obsession, you might want to take a look at some of the weekly shots on Skywatch Friday, –where folks from around the world post photos of skies, often featuring clouds.

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