Had some strange weather in Santa Barbara today, for this time of year anyways. Ended up on a couple hour drive down a dirt road along the mountain ridge. Good way to spend a Friday night. Every time I would pull over to take a photo, the clouds would roll in and I couldn’t see more that a few feet.
Last rays of light before several days of rain over Tasman Valley and Mount Cook National Park, New Zealand. Another old one from April, 2006.
Tasman glacier and Tasman lake covered in mist.
Storm over Tasman glacier and lake.
A cloudless sky is a pretty rare sight at Milford Sound, a place with an average of 6.8 meters – 22 feet of rain per year.
Old photo from March 2006. June Gloom has been in full effect these last weeks here in Santa Barbara and I haven’t been out shooting much lately. I figure I’ll just post some old stuff that has never seen the light of day before…
Justadtind, The prominent mountain toward the left of both photos.
Not long after I took this photo of the Kjerkefjord 3 days of storm enveloped the islands. Deceptively peaceful looking here.
I think I’ve said it before, that the economy of the Lofoten islands runs off basically two things: German tourists in the summer and cod stockfish in the winter. During the winter months, Atlantic Cod migrate into the waters of the Vestfjord for spawning, where they have been met by Norwegian fishermen since the days of the Vikings. One would think that north of the arctic circle would not be the most hospitable place to be during this time of year, but the gulf stream keeps the Lofoten islands relatively mild temperature wise. Though an arctic gale is nothing to laugh at, having heard stories of winds so fierce that they have literally moved houses.
We were allowed back onto my brother’s street this morning (Sunday). The fire burned to my brother’s fence in the back yard, which backs up to a mostly wild and grassy hillside that rises above. It looks like it was more of a small ‘spot fire’ caused by flying embers, while the ‘main’ front of the fire was stopped about 50-100 feet above at a small road. Definitely too close for comfort.
If Wednesday night was bad, tonight is a thousand times worse. As I type this just after midnight ash is raining all across the city as if a volcano had exploded. The foothills above town are completely ablaze with flames going nearly all the way to the mountain ridge at the top. The temperature is still 80˚ (26 c) and winds gusts up to 40mph. Huge sections of the city are now under evacuation and the fire is moving so fast. I crossed highway 154 just prior to its closing, and an hour later, the fire had already crossed it to the west and towards Goleta. Homes are burning. Simply awful out there; devastating.
