This week’s Sunday Stills Photo Challenge theme is “STORM.” My subtheme shows stormy weather from some of our road trips (hence my post’s title). As usual, the themes are wide open to your interpretation if you are participating in the challenge.
Storms are a period of extreme weather caused by atmospheric disturbances.
“You can learn to prevent a storm, or you can learn to ride the storm. If you learn to ride the storm, the storm is not a problem anymore.” – Jaggi Vasudev
Because we take a fair number of roadtrips by car, from Northeastern Washington to various points south and east, we’re likely to experience turbulent weather on any of these trips.
Ride along with me as we drive through some interesting stormy weather.
One of my favorite road trips began at the end of March 2023, when we attended my daughter’s wedding in San Diego. This view of the snowfall as we drove through Hells Canyon, Idaho, was magical. Another reason we have two 4-wheel-drive vehicles at our disposal.
Once we got into Utah, north of Salt Lake City, the aftereffects of the winter storm made for a beautiful drive on Hwy 15.
During that same trip, we arrived in San Diego during stormy weather. As we drove on Mt Helix in eastern San Diego, a pop-up shower drenched the roads. We squirmed a bit, worrying that we’d have rain during her outdoor wedding two days later.
During another trip through Southern Utah, the sky was alive with clouds that produced “virga,” basically rain that doesn’t reach the ground. Virga is commonly seen in the deserts during spring storms.
Where there’s a storm, danger lurks…
Storms can be beautiful and mesmerizing when viewed from the safety of a vehicle or your home. As we completed this wedding road trip, after spending two days in Missoula, Montana, we encountered dangerous driving conditions on the ride home. Believe it or not, we lucked out by driving behind a snowplough that led the way to Highway 90.
On another trip in 2019, we drove to Northern Arizona while we still lived in Sacramento. On December 31, the day after our arrival at the campground in Sedona, a rare winter storm descended, dropping up to 7 inches of snow within an hour. We had just left the campground to drive less than a mile to the gas station and grocery store, snow gently falling.
People assured us that it snows for a few minutes, then stops and melts quickly. Within the hour, holiday traffic was snarled on the main road through town. We tried to drive up Schnebly Road to the campground entrance, but without chains, it was a no-go, and we ended up parking in a lot next to an art gallery. Anxiously, I grabbed our groceries and hiked back to our trailer.
We were stuck in the campground for three days because we didn’t have chains for the truck. Imagine buying chains in the desert southwest.
In this image, taken later the same day, an RV trying to navigate the turn into the campground slid onto the other side of the road, with only the trees preventing it from tumbling over the edge.
“There are some things you can only learn in a storm.” – Joel Osteen
Stormy Northern Lights
Did anyone have the pleasure of witnessing the latest aurora on Jan 19 and 20? I had chosen this Sunday Stills theme before I was aware of the geomagnetic storm that caused this latest series of northern lights. Alas, our cloud/FOG deck was too thick for us to see them this time.
Thrilling, huh?
A severe (G4) Geomagnetic Storm Watch was in effect (on Jan 19) and continued January 20, as people looked for pretty lights dazzling the night sky across the Northern U.S., due to the arrival of a coronal mass ejection (CME), which is a large expulsion of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s corona. SOURCE
This was captured on a road trip to Winthrop, Washington, in the North Cascades in October 2024. The geomagnetic storm was intense, and was seen over our heads the night we arrived. Red lights are seen at 150 miles (240 km) above the Earth.
In May 2024, we enjoyed the intense northern lights from our street.
Fortunately, after any storm, the clouds move away, the sun comes out, and a rainbow may appear.
“The storm is an artist; the rainbow is its masterpiece.” – Matshona Dhliwayo
Sharing for Johnbo’s Cellpic Sunday
Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders
The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post. Please use your own original images, whether new or from your archives.
- Remember to title your blog post a little differently from mine.
- Please create a new post for the theme or link to a recent one.
- Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
- Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
- Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
- I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.
If you are participating in the photo challenge, I look forward to seeing how you interpret this week’s theme! Creativity is encouraged, so please share your own photographs (old or new), poems, original short stories, and music inspired by the theme. Join me next week as we explore Feed the Birds.
I pray that many of my blogger friends who may be experiencing the latest arctic blast and ice storms are safe!
“Ride the storm. Cheer wildly. Gather strength from life’s storms.” – Jonathan Lockwood Huie
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