Tag Archives: rain

Photographs: Nature

Sunset Rain, California Valley

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Sunset Rain, California Valley
Spring rain dissipates over mountains near California Valley at sunset.

Sunset Rain, California Valley. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring rain dissipates over mountains near California Valley at sunset.

Early spring (and sometimes the tail end of winter)offers some of the most interesting weather in California. Summers tend to be somewhat bland from a photographic perspective, at least in places where nearly endless blue sky days are the norm. Winter storms are powerful, but follow a predictable path for the most part. But as we transition from the wet season to the dry one we have an increased chance of experiencing hail, sudden downpours, rainbows, lightning and thunder, and rapid transitions between clouds and sun, all playing out over the green spring landscape.

A year ago I was at an area of inland hills where wildflowers can bloom in extraordinary ways when the conditions are just right. It was a day featuring that dynamic, changing weather. In the evening I went to a spot where a valley began to ascend toward hills, from which I could see across the valley toward distant hills. As the sun appeared under the clouds to the west near sunset, the golden light illuminated sheets of rain falling over the mountains.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Panamint Lake

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Panamint Lake
Panamint Lake spreads across Panamint Valley following heavy winter rains

Panamint Lake. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Panamint Lake spreads across Panamint Valley following heavy winter rains.

Death Valley National Park visitors who arrive from the west or southwest almost certainly drive through Panamint Valley — whether traversing a good part of its length when driving north from Ridgecrest and Trona arriving after driving across from Owens Valley and US 395. The area was not originally part of the park but was added more recently. Despite being framed by big, rugged mountain ranges on either side, it is more typically a place people drive “through” rather than “to.”

It is also generally a very dry place. But near its upper end there is a typical desert playa… which necessarily implies that the area is periodically flooded during wet periods. This spring I passed through twice on visits that were about a month apart. The first time followed a very wet period and the usually dry playa was covered by a very large, shallow lake… of which there were virtually no traces one month later.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Sand Storm, Virga, And Mountains

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Sand Storm, Virga, And Mountains, Death Valley
“Sand Storm, Virga, And Mountains” — Sand storm and evening virga over Death Valley mountains

Here is( yet another) photograph from an astounding early-April afternoon and evening of wind and sand storms, a passing weather front, desert landscape, and transforming light. We were south of this location in the middle of the day and had heard a forecast for high winds and blowing sand. Sure enough, the wind began to rise, and when I looked far to the north I could see the dust rising. We quickly headed that way.

There was an unusual conjunction of conditions. The high winds were whipping up sand and dust and sending it high into the air and far up into desert mountains to the northeast. At the same time the remnants of a passing weather front were building clouds above the blowing dust and sand, and virga was falling from some of the clouds. Just before sunset I began to photograph this scene, and I kept photographing as the colors and light transitioned to sunset and then dusk.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Sand Storm, Sunset Virga

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Sand Storm, Sunset Virga
Virga drops from sunset clouds above a desert sand storm

Sand Storm, Sunset Virga. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Virga drops from sunset clouds above a desert sand storm.

This photograph represents Death Valley as a place of “apocalyptic beauty.” Most of the time this landscape is quiet, and the predominant impressions it makes on me are about stillness and immense space. But it can also produce incredibly dynamic, powerful, and even intimidating conditions, sometimes without a whole lot of prior notice.

This scene is a conjunction of three conditions that I’ve only experienced together a few times there. A weather front was moving through and trying to drop rain on the landscape — here the clouds are releasing virga, curtains of rainfall that don’t make it to the ground. Extreme winds from the southwest were whipping up a sand storm that was rising into the Amargosa Mountains to the east of the valley. (I was standing in tremendous winds and blowing sand when I made this photograph.) Then all of this came together with a brief moment of sunset light as the rain was clearing from the west to leave an open sky in the direction of the setting sun.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.