Tag Archives: storm

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Dawn Light, Wheeler Crest

October 31, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Dawn light on rugged Wheeler crest following an autumn Sierra Nevada snow storm.

It had snowed all day the previous day, and I knew that the eastern escarpment of the Sierra would be covered in new snow at dawn. The dawn weather conditions were a bit of an unknown, but it seemed to be worthwhile to get up very early and be in position with a view of the crest at sunrise, so we headed up into the hills above Bishop and below the mountains to see what would happen.

There were clouds. This can be a good thing or a bad thing in this situation. Without clouds the light can be less special, but if there are too many, especially to the east, they may completely block the sunrise light – and that light on the eastern face of the range is what we were there for. There was some clear sky overhead, and it seemed that the clouds to the east over the White Mountains were at least somewhat broken. These conditions bring the possibility – but not the certainty – that the dawn sun may find its way through gaps in the clouds, spotlighting areas of the mountains as the light works its way across and down their east faces. In fact, it worked out this way. We first photographed the range straight on, mostly centering compositions around Mt. Humphreys. After shooting that subject I looked around a bit more and saw bands of light starting to sweep across the face of the cloud-topped and rugged Wheeler Crest.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Beaver Pond, Early Snow

October 28, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The first snow of autumn falls on an eastern Sierra Nevada beaver pond

We began our October visit to the eastern Sierra aspens with a very long drive from the north, necessitated by an early season snow storm that swept across the range on the day of our drive, closing all of the passes that are not normally plowed – Tioga, Ebbetts, and Sonora. So we drove over Carson and Monitor Passes to reach highway 395. The snow started before we reached the summit of Carson pass and continued intermittently throughout the rest of the day – never enough to interfere with our driving (aside from the closed passes) but enough to make the photography interesting and to create an appearance that seemed more winter- than autumn-like.

As we headed south on highway 395, we stopped quite a bit to make photographs or even take a side road detour or two. Just before reaching Lee Vining we headed up this canyon, which is known as a good spot of aspens – and for a very narrow section of roadway that passes along the side of a so-called beaver pond. I’ve been past this spot many times, but this was the first time in falling snow. The gray skies and the falling snow created a very peaceful effect around the pond, and we paused to photograph it before making a brief visit to the trailhead at the end of the road.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Flurries, Morning

October 26, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

An early autumn weather front drops morning snow flurries along the rugged Sierra Nevada crest near Mount Morrison

This is another photograph from the final morning of our September photographic trip to the eastern Sierra Nevada. We were surprised to find it snowing lightly when we work up in Mammoth that morning, since there had been no mention of such weather in the previous day’s forecast. We decided to stick with our plan of making a big loop out to the east of Mammoth Lakes and then north by a back route to Mono Lake and highway 395 for our return trip. So we headed down the road out of Mammoth Lakes in the pre-dawn near-darkness and then started out across Long Valley.

Out in the valley as dawn approached, it became clear that the atmosphere was doing some very interesting things along the eastern edge of the Sierra. At first we saw a very strong weather cell over Mammoth Lakes that appeared to be dropping quite a bit of rain or snow, even though where we were it was virtually clear overhead. So we stopped and set up to make some photographs of these conditions. We continued shooting after the first red dawn light and watched as the snow squall worked its way south along the Sierra crest. In this photograph there is light snow falling along the ridge near Mount Morrison, but since the clouds did not extend to the east, the early morning light is hitting the upper slopes of this line of peaks.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspens and Autumn Snow

October 23, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A large grove of golden autumn aspen trees ascends the slopes above Conway Summit toward Sierra Nevada peaks blanketed with early fall snow

On the final day of our September trip to photograph eastern Sierra fall color, we made a very long and round-about loop that finally brought us to Lee Vining for a late breakfast. The day had begun with snow flurries in the Mammoth Lakes area, then cleared as we drove a good distance to the east into high desert basin and range country and then north toward Mono Lake. Shortly after passing along the south side of Mono Lake we headed west toward highway 395, with the Sierra crest of the eastern boundary of Yosemite National Park rising front of us, enveloped in snow showers. We stopped to photograph a bit and then headed on to Lee Vining for a late breakfast.

By midday the weather was clearly in transition, with clouds and showers lingering along the crest, but clear skies (with a few clouds) to the east. After climbing to Conway Summit we found the area in this weather boundary zone, with broken sunlight and shadows moving across the lower slopes with their colorful aspens, while snow showers were still falling higher up in the peaks of the Sierra crest. This photograph looks more or less in the direction of the sun, and the strong backlit emphasizes the brilliant colors of the aspens.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: storm

Dawn Light, Wheeler Crest

Beaver Pond, Early Snow

Autumn Flurries, Morning

Aspens and Autumn Snow

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.