If you live in the Salt Lake Valley of Utah, you can look forward to January 20th because the Sun sets a noticeable 31 minutes later.

Sunset, January 20th Salt Lake Valley

This sunset is unique due to its time: 5:30 p.m. MST.

Sunrise, January 20th Salt Lake Valley

Those flying saucer or lenticular clouds grabbed my attention. I invited Dr. Alex DeCaria, professor of meteorology at Millersville University, to explain:

Here is Dr. DeCaria:

Have you ever stood alongside a flowing stream and pondered the stationary waves of water flowing over a boulder or a fallen tree? The bumps that kayakers and rafters like to bounce over. Lenticular clouds are the atmospheric equivalent, with the mountains as the ‘underwater obstacles’, and the wind blowing over the mountain as the ‘river’. The phenomenon would occur even in bone dry air, but fortunately nature provided nearly saturated air; the lift of air crossing the mountains cooled to give us the altocumulus standing lenticularis.

And though kayakers and rafters may enjoy the thrill of skidding through bumps on a river, pilots know that lenticular clouds are dangerous.

I have not lived in Utah since 1985, and am now firmly rooted in the mid-Atlantic. I love my home in Pennsylvania, but I miss the many unique weather phenomena that only large mountain ranges provide. Lenticular clouds can form under other circumstances, even away from mountains (I have even seen them in South Florida), but the most impressive ones hover over the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada.

Back to me:

Sunrise and sunset times vary with your latitude and longitude and your location within the time zone.

Timeanddate.com will fascinate you with the daylight changes (and much more) where you live.

I am grateful to Dr. DeCaria for providing guest commentary and to you for visiting Thecosmos.blog.

Your host,

Michael

Bringing you wonder through photography

(Note: If you feel blue during winter, you may have seasonal affective disorder (SAD). For more information, click here.)