Golden Sky and Double Rainbow after the Storm
Last evening Albuquerque experienced one of our famous summer thunderstorms – lightning, thunder, brief heavy rain that produced rivers running in streets, full arroyos, and some brief flash flooding. I got 1″ of rain in less than an hour, enough that there was standing water for a short time (I hope I’ll have a lawn again for a few days!).
Albuquerque is well-known for double rainbows after thunderstorms. But, this was late, and the clouds were heavy and the rain continued, albeit at a slower rate.
And, then, unexpectedly because it was late and still raining, I caught a glimpse of golden light out of the corner of my eye. Such light after a storm here often produces rainbows looking east toward the Sandias. But, there were no rainbows from the usual view. But, with that light, something had to be happening! This view is looking south. I have never seen a rainbow in this position in the years I have lived here.
The light, and thus, the rainbows, lasted less than two minutes. The time was short, but the image in my mind will last.
The tree that was lit is The Old Crow tree, so named after a brief visit by a crow in January.
The Observer, The Observed
The mystical beauty of the Southwest Desert!
Wonderful image. It didn’t clear up out here until around midnight.
Hi, Tim. Thanks.
It really didn’t clear up here until later, either. This was just a very limited and very brief break in the clouds, producing these rainbows where I had never seen them before. Just when I think I’ve seen it all… (really, I do know better 😉 )
Glorious! Wish I’d been paying attention! Didn’t even notice the rain. 🙁
But we were playing around with my friend’s new camera! (D 3300 Nikon!)
Susan, I would like to retract that prior comment! I wasn’t paying attention to the date. Yes, we were very aware of the storm the night before last! But we did miss the rainbow as my house is oriented poorly for me to notice what you saw! So I appreciate it even more when you post your beautiful images!
Hi, rndthwrld14! First, I hope you and your friend had fun playing with the new camera!!! I can imagine all kinds of fun!
The rainbow – or, at least, seeing it, was kind of a fluke. It was late, it was raining, and I certainly was not expecting any outdoor light action at that time. But, very briefly, I caught this golden light ray lighting up a very limited space. The mountains were dark, and from my house, everything looking toward the mountains was dark. What was lit was to the south, and what I have come to call The Old Crow Tree in my yard; nothing else. This lasted barely over one minute, and then everything went dark again. I’ve developed a pretty good sense about when to look for rainbows based on the light I can see out the windows, but I was lucky to catch this because it was in an unusual spot and was really brief.
Nice to see you, and thank you for the comments.