Commentary, nature, Photography

Mountain Clouds

17 Comments

The Okanagan Valley is surrounded by mountains: there are sub-ranges of the Rockies to the east of us, the Coastal Mountains are to the west of us and the Okanagan range of the Cascade Mountains are to the southwest of us. It’s no surprise then that our valley becomes subject to a lot of cloud and mist, particularly in the winter.

Penticton’s elevation is 385m (1263 ft) and the mountains around us are at least another 700m (2300 ft) higher; mist and cloud are typically trapped by mountain ranges.

I love watching the interplay of cloud and light as it forms, disperses and reforms, all the while playing peek-a-boo with the sun.

Happy Winter Solstice – if you’re in the northern hemisphere, from now forward our days become longer.

17 thoughts on “Mountain Clouds”

  2. Mountains and clouds seem to go hand in hand and make great photo opportunities Lynette. We just had 3 days of this on our way back from Vancouver, from mist to fog to rain clouds. Glad to be home. I think you have a typ on your mountain height conversion from metric to feet. Have a wonderful Thursday. Allan

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    1. Thanks for the catch, Allan. I saw it as soon as you prompted me to look – not sure where that came from! Lots of clouds and mist are such typical winter weather in the mountains unless you go high enough to see some sun.
      The Okanagan Valley gets lots of it because the sun doesn’t gain enough altitude to heat the valley floor. A common practice here is to drive up to Apex for lunch to see some sun! It’s always good to get home, isn’t it? Cheers.

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  4. I hope Rudolph the Red Nosed reindeer’s nose is shiny enough to lead Santa’s sleigh through all the clouds and mist to your chimney, otherwise you may be out of luck this Christmas (and Rudolph could be fired for not being up to the job!). 😀

    Happy Holidays nonetheless!

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    1. Me too! We’re definitely going to need his nose for our mist and cloud, and I’m sure that if required, he will do a fine job. Although apparently our weather is supposed to clear for the 24th. 🙂
      Season’s Greetings, mistermuse!

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    1. I do as well. We had a beautifully sunny day yesterday after an early morning heavy rain, and the clouds below the ridges were gorgeous as they started to disperse. I unfortunately wasn’t in a position to take photos, though.

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