– by Steve Sakiyama –
Recently I found a set of keys that were missing for years in the thick shrubs beside our house, all rusted and caked with dirt. Strange. How did they get there? Did the car key run off with the house key one dark and stormy night, only to get lost in the shrub forest? It reminds me of the odd Mother Goose nursery rhyme where the “Dish ran away with the Spoon.” Where did they end up anyways?
Isn’t it extraordinary to find ordinary things in unexpected places? One morning while rushing out the door to work I happened to glance in the mirror, just to confirm my professional office attire and impeccable grooming.
I stopped … Yep, there was a streak of peanut butter and jelly across the top of my forehead.
Tell me, how did the stuff on my breakfast toast end up there? It was if the toast fell from the sky and landed on my noggin in a Murphy’s Law kind of way, PB-and-J side down. “Splaathunk.” While wiping it off I laughed at the possibility of going through the day completely oblivious to these streaks of goodness spread prominently across the front of my balding head. Walking along busy sidewalks to work, spending the day in meetings, giving a presentation to management … all the while thinking that those smiling at me were acknowledging my confident demeanor.
“Hey Steve, trying the old PB-and-J scalp treatment? How’s that working for ya?”
Speaking of things spread across the top, the sky can have streaks of cloud high above – as if an artist used a gentle brush stroke to create feathery patches of white clouds on a blue canvas. These are Cirrus: a thin, streaky cloud found anywhere from five to 13 kilometres above sea level. Since it is very cold and windy at these heights, Cirrus is made up of tiny ice crystals that are stretched horizontally into long wisps called mares’ tails. Once in a while, the ice crystals fall out of the cloud and eventually vapourize, creating thin white streamers that hang underneath it. This is an extraordinary sight, as the cloud looks like a white jellyfish floating in the sky with delicate tendrils of ice crystals dangling below. Some refer to these as jellyfish clouds (or in my case, peanut butter and jellyfish clouds).
What kind of weather will spread across the sky in July? The long-term outlook for July through September indicates a greater chance of above-normal temperatures, with no preference toward wetter or drier conditions. So it looks like typical marvelous summer weather to top it all off.
During July the breadth of nature is on full display, with breathtaking lush trees and flowers, glittering seascapes backlit by snow peaked mountains, and the red hues of sunset skies. Before rushing out the door into our busy lives, take a moment to look at the reflections of beauty in the surrounding land, sea and sky. Expect the unexpected, for there’s no such thing as the ordinary here in this extraordinary place.
~ Weatherwit.
Questions about clouds? Email weatherwit@gmail.com or visit weatherwit.wordpress.com.
