The colours of storms

Last week was a very unsettled time - weatherise that is. One of the advantages of living where we live is the ability to watch storms.

What has amazed us is the colour and intensity of these storms as you can see from the photos below - all taken with the old iPhone 5s - so some nice graininess to some of the photos.

©2015 Barry Smith - The dramatic light of a storm approaching the valley

©2015 Barry Smith - Last light being swamped by storm clouds

©2015 Barry Smith - Sheet lightning

©2015 Barry Smith - A lucky shot of a lightning strike

©2015 Barry Smith - A dramatic sunset colouring a huge storm 

©2015 Barry Smith - Coloured curtain of a rain storm

©2015 Barry Smith - Contrasts

I find I enjoy watching the storms but also get joy capturing and sharing the drama of them.

A mixture of matters - storms, moon and flowers.

©2015 Barry Smith - Unusual clouds and light after the storm

The weather in our neck of the world has been a little crazy. Whilst there has been some good opportunities to view the moon; there have also been times when the safest and driest place was indoors.

A few photos of the storms we have been having including falling hail (small bits) which is a little unusual in our part of the world.

Some interesting light and cloud shows in the valley.

©2015 Barry Smith - Boiling clouds

©2015 Fiona Dempster - Storm moving towards us 

My moon watching started with a see-through moon in a blue sky whilst we ate lunch. Obviously it progressed to early evening, then early morning and then the moon after sunrise in a blue grey sky. I'm still fascinated by the rotation of the moon from moonrise to moonset.

©2015 Barry Smith - Two thirds of a super moon - afternoon against a blue sky

©2015 Barry Smith - Same two thirds later in the evening

©2015 Barry Smith - Full super-moon a couple of days later

©2015 Barry Smith - Full moon with drifting cloud 

©2015 Barry Smith - Early morning full moon

©2015 Barry Smith - Bottom edge of early morning moon

©2015 Barry Smith - Moon after sunrise - losing its bottom edge.

©2015 Barry Smith - Against a blue grey morning sky

We have been very lucky with the flowers this year - gorgeous Waratahs; and the second of our newly planted roses - a very deep red and just amazing aroma.

Not a lot of dull moments on the mountain.

Back on line

As Fiona indicated in her last post we have had some trying weather on the mountain and in fact half of Queensland.

©2013 Barry Smith - Looking south to the valley below

I the main we did not have a bad experience like people who had to be evacuated and lost all their possessions. Our main issues were: few small trees-bushes down; dealing with the lack of power for just short of three days; no landline phone and no internet for 4 days; showering in the rain; collecting water for drinking and toilets; cooking on a gas single burner stove etc - bit like camping at home really.

We had a bit of water inundation; but we got over that after we got outside and dug a diversion drain.

Anyway I thought I'd share a couple of photos of the storm and rain.

©2013 Barry Smith - Torrents of rain - looking to the west

©2013 Barry Smith - Rain-out to the east

©2013 Barry Smith - Unusual storm light at dusk

©2013 Barry Smith - So the tanks are full then

And then a beautiful sunset with magic colours after the storm and rain moved south.

©2013 Barry Smith - Clean sunset after the storm passed through

And a couple of photos of the rust where I had been cutting up metal for shards.

© 2013 Barry - Battered Frangipani flower and rusted iron filings after the rain

©2013 Barry Smith - Edge of the drain and rusted iron filings

©2013 Barry Smith - Storm drain grate and rusted iron filings

All photos taken with the iPhone; and none have been altered with apps.

At the moment we are in returning the yard and house to shape; and we will get to a bit of art as the time permits.