Posts about weather

  • Sgurr Mhairi from Ashaig

    Squalls in Skye

    To hell with warm, sunny days. Let the squalls come.

  • The Grimsel Snake

    The “Grimsel Snake” (“Grimselschlange”) is a cloud formation in the mountain region between canton Bern and Wallis, where the clouds pour over the ridge slowly like water when the humidity and wind combine in the right direction. Here’s a time-lapse video I filmed of it from the Furka Bélvèdere car park in 2016.

  • The Belt of Venus

    Before dawn in autumn and winter on a clear day, where there is moisture or minutely-fine dust in the air, early risers get to see the Belt of Venus. The pink colouration at around 10°-20° above the horizon is caused by the scattered, reflected light of the sun hitting minute dust particles in the west,…

  • Even after the many miles of road travel to the populated north of Scotland, the next stage out into the northern Highlands, delineated by the huge Great Glen between Oban and Inverness, is something else entirely. Leaving dual carriageways behind on the Black Isle and heading west, especially during inclement weather, both the roads and the landscape become increasingly…

  • Southerly winds form cloud waterfalls in the high mountains of the Swiss Alps.

  • Sahara dust in the air at Fanel

    Almost every year, prevailing winds bring fine dust and sand from the Sahara desert to southern Europe.

  • I visit the wintry mountain-top viewpoint at Männlichen, above Wengen and Grindelwald, to photograph the annual combined Patrouille Suisse/SWISS airliner air show.

  • Panoramic aerial photograph of the Tschingellochtighorn in Switzerland

    Obstinacy got me past a viewpoint I had aimed for and gave me the opportunity to capture a wonderfully dramatic alternative image.

  • Views from home across the lake to the Niederhorn on a winter Sunday.

  • Above the clouds

    The “Nebelmeer” (lit. sea of cloud) is a fabulous meteorological phonemenon at this time of year, caused by a band of dense cloud sealing cold air beneath it in alpine valleys.

  • Changing tack

    A photo I took a year ago today reminds me to put down the lighting gear and head out with just a camera and a pair of comfortable shoes, to capture the light which needs no help.