A number of readers of this blog have commented on the images I sometimes include with a posting and quite a number of folks have expressed real amazement at some of the collages I’ve blogged. A recent reader shared some thoughts with me; from these grew the idea of creating this piece which is really a blog regarding Alaskan skies and weather scenes. This was very difficult to create simply because I have so many beautiful images of The Last Frontier’s skies and unusual/extreme weather. I believe my initial perusal left me with almost sixty images; from these I managed to winnow it down to ‘just’ thirty six and from there down to the following 18 images. I will most likely do another such posting down the road and include the remainder of the final 36 images which just failed to make the cut. So, for your enjoyment, I offer you eighteen images of ‘Alaskan Skies & Weather’…
This is Gunsite Mountain just north of the Glenn Highway. If you look closely at the ‘dished’ area you will see a tiny square notch with the overcast gray sky visible beyond; hence the mountain’s name.
A portion of ‘the Spur’ which runs from the ‘Y’ (intersection of the ‘Y’ and the Parks Highway also known as AK 3) to the village of Talkeetna after an overnight early spring snowfall
Savage River Basin in Denali NP&P on an early September afternoon. The taiga and tussock tundra are in full fall color; this image has not been manipulated in any manner and I wasn’t using any special filters. It is just this colorful!
I spied this ‘Little Cloud That Could’ on the Parks Highway just outside Houston. I don’t know if the rain was reaching the ground but I’d never seen just a single small cloud in an almost clear sky trying so hard to make rain!
Hill side fall color along the Elliot Highway (AK 2) between its junction with the Dalton Highway (AK 11) and Fairbanks. Notice the small line of orange colored trees just a bit above and left of center; such color is rare up here due to a dearth of hardwood trees.
Classic thunderstorm out-wash above the float plane docks on Fish Lake around Mile 9.5 on the Spur. The thunderstorms were forming along the Talkeetna Mountains to the east.
A fiery red sunset over Kachemak Bay as seen from the front porch of a magical little cabin in Kachemak Bay SP&P named ‘Timbers’.
The same view as above but on a different day and time.
The incredible Aurora Borealis as seen from a neighbor’s place perhaps six miles north of my home. The late fall/early winter of 2016/2017 featured amazingly clear skies and intense auroral activity. Many nights I lay in bed and just watched ‘Nature’s Light Show’ for hours.
The eastern Alaska Range as seen from a pipeline access pull out on The Richardson Highway (AK 4) maybe thirty miles south of Delta Junction. It was early September of 2000 when this image was captured looking SSW and a brief snow event had occurred across the night.
Split layer fog is relatively common in Alaska and this is a classic shot of said weather phenomena. Just left of center is the Alyeska pipeline with the road splitting off to the right. This was taken somewhere along the Dalton Highway (AK 11).
Mighty Mount Foraker (17,400 feet in elevation) is tall enough to form its own weather as evidenced by the lenticular clouds forming above its peak. This image was taken from the Spur around Mile 5.
A ‘molten’ orange-red sunset taken from a pull-out along the Dalton Highway (AK 11) just a bit north of Coldfoot.
A majestic early September sunset above Mount Illiamna which is a four peaked active ‘strato-volcano’ exceeding 10,000 feet in elevation. The image was taken at Stariski SRS and is looking west across Cook Inlet.
The huge Alaskan sky as seen from a gravel pit pull-out along the Dalton Highway (AK 11). My buddy was using his video camera to capture the same ‘big sky’ effect.
It’s Alaska so ya gotta have one image of snow falling, right..? This was taken in January of 2017 as I was driving south down the Spur from the village to my home.
Close up of an unknown glacier in the Kenai Mountains with a thick cloud layer almost cutting off the tops of the mountains; the image was taken from the foothills around Homer and looking across Kachemak Bay.
Mighty Denali (20,287 feet in elevation) cloaked in morning Alpenglow as seen from the famous overlook on the Spur. From this point the village of Talkeetna is just another couple miles up the road.
Alaskan at Last! 