Hike Mt. Shasta

This was an unexpected treat. There was a major storm system careening toward the Mount Shasta area (the deluge is upon us as I write this) and I was hoping that its arrival might yield some lenticular clouds. I had just been griping about how there had not been many good lenticular displays the last few years, especially in the typically prime seasons of fall and spring. However, my interest in lenticulars was interrupted by a large solar event that meant that the aurora borealis would be pushed far to the south and potentially visible here in Mount Shasta.

For a brief moment I was excited at this prospect, since I had had some good luck with this in the past. Then I remembered the storm and realized that there was likely to be cloud cover and the sky not visible. Thankfully, my dismay was short lived, as the clouds seemed to clear to some degree and some portions of the sky were visible as might also be the aurora.

I headed out to a piece of property my wife and I have and set up for some shots to try to capture the aurora. Unfortunately, I got my settings all out of wake and none of the images turned out the way I had hoped they would. The added calamity was that not only was Mount Shasta visible, but a lenticular formed over the mountain (really, it was far to the northeast, but it appeared to be right above Mount Shasta). The aurora plus a lenticular?!

Sadly, I didn’t get good images of this likely once in a lifetime convergence of conditions. It did make for an awesome animated gif though! Watching the cloud gather and form over Mount Shasta while the aurora colored the sky and the stars ranged across the heavens was a special sequence to witness. The luminous body on the far right was Jupiter (I think).

Needless to say, I finally left the scene but was determines to head out early in the morning if it was not overcast and the lenticulars were still visible. This turned out to be the case, as the sky was filled with unusual cloud formations. Though the light never got really good, it was a grand sight nonetheless. Such awe-inspiring pageantry in the sky was gift upon gift after witnessing the aurora.

This turned out to be the best lenticular display I have seen in quite a while. It was a shame to have botched the aurora but I still got a little something to show for the effort. Just observing such magnificence in the sky would have been enough…