September Skies - Art & Story by Sandra Russell

September Skies
Art & Story (c) Sandra Russell

September Skies

by Sandra Russell

A good friend of mine and I were driving back to Athens County from shopping in Columbus some years back and saw in the late afternoon sky what I suppose anyone might consider a gloomy threatening sky ahead. She informed me that the little chunky clouds that formed long horizontal rows of "black sheep" meant lots of water in the clouds (the darkness) and the fact that they seemed to diminish in size as the elevation increased meant that this would also be more than a days' worth of rain or weather change, and the height dropping towards us loaming ever closer, meant just that, it was coming soon. The lateral pattern indicated colder temperatures as well and so this would fall as snow or most likely; the dreaded freezing rain. 

I am not sure if I am remembering all of this correctly, so I looked it up on the internet where there is loads of information on cloud patterns and weather. In fact, too much information to include here. However there are four basic cloud types: high altitude, medium, low lying clouds, and vertical reaching clouds. Within these categories, we have variant combinations of three basic forms. The  pretty pile of mashed potato ones, (or ice cream depending on your mood), those are Cumulus clouds. There are also Cirrus clouds, what my grandmother used to call "mare's tails"...wispy stringing things without a care in the world but can indicate wind movement and direction of weather changes. Stratus clouds cover the sky like a solid wall of blue/grey/white glumness. 

I have just today learned a combination of clouds to watch out for… that is the Cumulonimbus cloud. It is a combination of a cumulus cloud with a vertical reaching cloud and looks a bit like an anvil shape. According to sources, the anvil point indicates the direction the storm is taking. This cloud does indicate lightning thunder and storm. Interestingly Thor, the god of storms, carries a big hammer... so here is his anvil, I guess? Interesting subject which I will take more time to digest later. 

The skies of September and October are some of the most beautiful and various in the entire year. I think we could all enjoy a little sky gazing and weather prediction in the weeks ahead.