This is the 15th year of continuous daily publication for 365Caws. All things considered, it's likely it will be the last year as it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to find interesting material. However, I hope that I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world with my natural history posts, or encouraged a novice weaver or needleworker. If so, I've done what I set out to do.
Sunday, July 25, 2021
Perfectly Notched
Day 285: For some weeks now, I have been hoping for the proper conditions which cause the Mountain to cast an atmospheric shadow just prior to sunrise. It all came together yesterday morning, with two unexpected bonuses. When I first observed the shadow forming, it was the typical wedge shape angling toward the south. I grabbed the camera and darted across the road where I could avoid having power lines in the image, but as I did so, a second dark wedge appeared off the left shoulder. The shadows were being thrown by Columbia Crest (the true summit, central from this vantage point) and Liberty Cap (the northern peak). This double shadow alone was a phenomenon I had not previously seen, but as I was snapping photos, the sun began rising, perfectly notched in the low point between the two summits. Old Sol will be in this position only for a few days each summer, and although weather has permitted me to see the notched sunrise occur a few times previously, it was never in conjunction with the atmospheric shadow (and certainly not with a pair of shadows).
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