Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Cloud Formations

as seen from Carcavelos on a sunny day
*
A strange phenomenon: DUST RAIN
Two days ago I have mentioned that, apart from the intense heat, the sky was strangely (and heavily) clouded. What I didn't know was that a gigantic dust cloud from northern Africa was covering central and southern Portugal. Then we had some light rain. When it stopped I went outside and noticied all my plants have turned brown as everything else in the open air. Now can you imagine how messy all cars looked like especially the darker ones?! :-)

27 comments:

Olivier said...

tres belles photos, la première on dirait une peinture

Dina said...

Really strange clouds.
So, this time YOU got the African dust.
Usually it drifts up to us. But that is one good thing about not having rain for half of each year--we don't get that muddy rain on us and on everything from April to October.

OK, JM, start cleaning.

eden said...

Amazing clouds. Great photos.

brattcat said...

But these are magnificent.

Joan Elizabeth said...

I have been chasing clouds today too ... we're out in the desert and would you believe it is raining. As for the dust reminds me of the huge dust storm we had last year ... it made my garden dirty too.

Halcyon said...

Must have been an interesting phenomenon. I guess the car washes will get some extra business! Love those clouds.

Sharon said...

I love clouds and these are wonderful. I can relate to your rain story. Living in a desert, it seems like every rain brings a load of dirt with it. It has to rain steady for quite a while to start washing the dirt away.

irinapictures said...

Somehow these clouds remind me the sea waves. Beautiful.
Dust from the sky? Climate going crazy..

Judy said...

The clouds look beautiful but the dust is another story.

Small City Scenes said...

How interesting. I have never heard of this phenomenom.
Those clouds are lovely yet strange. MB

Louis la Vache said...

Beautiful clouds. Like several of the others, «Louis» relates to the 'raining mud' - this happens from time to time in the Texas panhandle where «Louis» grew up if it rains after one of the notorious dust storms hits the area.

Virginia said...

It may have caused a big ole mess, but these shots are gorgeous! Lovely formations JM.
V

B SQUARED said...

We get the African dust storms mostly in the spring. They usually give us haze but no actual dirt.

Lowell said...

Craziness! It seems every summer we will get dust from Africa in Florida...not to the same extent, however. It doth make for some gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, though.

VP said...

Spectacular, I have never seen anything like this! We have sometimes red dust with the rain, but it is a quite rare event.

joo said...

It's a srange year - volcanos, torrenial rains, heat waves and now this!
Anyway, the sky looks fabulous.

becky said...

I never tire of cloud watching... too bad I can't figure out how to make a living out of it!
:)

jennyfreckles said...

Very unusual skies - even in UK we sometimes get sand in our rain.

Jim said...

Beautiful cloud formations.

T. Becque said...

Wow, African dust, I know it probably wasn't, but it sounds cool. Just think, it was in Africa and now it's on your car (or plants) :)
Anyway, I like these photos of clouds, they are interesting.

crocrodyl said...

Great photos! Beautiful!

Cezar and Léia said...

Que coisa mais linda, parece uma pintura impressionista a sua primeira foto!
Léia

tapirgal said...

These are stunning to look at, and I've never heard of dust rain. I suppose I've seen it occasionally, but not do dense.

Costea Andrea Mihai said...

superb!

Serline said...

Nature imitating art... look like artistic paintings of the sky ;-)

Dean Grey said...

JM!

I never heard of such a thing until now!

Looks beautiful but I'm sure it was a pain to clean up after!

-Dean

Joanne said...

demais! não vi isto... só vi o estado do meu carro:))