It’s been a little quiet up here in Rocky Mountain National Park the past few weeks. We’ve been at a loss for snow the past few weeks but there are two other forces of nature that have been prevalent during this back end of the shoulder season. Those two items are the wind and spectacular sunrises.
While the wind has been relentless the past few weeks in RMNP, It has also helped create the perfect conditions for some jaw dropping sunrises many mornings. With a nice gap in the clouds to the east of Rocky, the winds have been creating beautiful lenticular clouds or wave clouds on the leeward side of the Front Range. This makes for the perfect setup with the pre-dawn through sunrise catching the underside of the lenticular clouds. This particular setup results in some of the most breathtaking color at sunrise as the sky over a period of nearly an hour before sunrise, right through sunrise goes from beautiful pastels, to fiery reds and explosive oranges.
If you haven’t photographed along the Front Range of Colorado or Rocky Mountain National Park, you probably think we just crank the saturation tool up to 100 in photoshop. Luckily for the photographers who have braved the nuisance winds that almost always accompany these lenticular clouds and beautiful sunrises, thats not required.
other note on top of the high winds, lack of snow and amazing sunrises that have been occurring with regularity in Rocky the past few weeks, very mild and warm temperatures have allowed for open water in the lower elevations of the park. Typically by mid December not only are the lakes frozen solid, but are narrow and winding streams such as Fall River and The Big Thompson are also covered over with ice. Thats not currently the case in RMNP as much of the streams and lakes have sections that remain free from ice.
Overall, its always a little more difficult to get motivated during the brown season, especially with 50-60 mph winds. So far, this season has had the annoyance of high winds, but the beauty of some of the best sunrises all year in Rocky. I guess we all just have to remember that sometimes you have to take the good with the bad. Have fun out there and hopefully we start seeing some snow sooner rather than later.