SkyWatch Friday: The first half of February

Due to computer issues I didn't participate in SkyWatch last week.

I thought this week I'd cover two weeks of sky watching.

Hard to believe that February is already half over.

I have been catching the full moon almost every month and February was no exception.

I think it looks like smoke was coming out of the moon in the shot below.

We've been getting a lot of dense cloud coverage.

It's hard for me to decide on which shots to post and covering two weeks this time has made it even harder to narrow down what I select.

One of my favorite parts of winter is how bare tree limbs make it possible to see more of the sky.

I like the layered look of the sunset.

The shots above and below are the same sunset at different times.

The jets crossing the sky leave their bands of white.

I'm glad I photographed the Japanese Magnolia (its called a tulip tree where I live) when it was showing off early blooms because they all got killed by the cold spell we had.

The next shot is the same tree after it was blasted with a return of winter.

My neighbor's cat was climbing down from my car and crossing the reflected sky.

The rest of the shots are ones I took at the JC Arboretum (NCSU).

I imagine the flowers on the tree below also got blasted by the cold spell so I'm glad I saw them when I did.

This has been a particularly good winter for varied skies.

We've had cotton batting style clouds.

I think it looks like a comforter is tossed across the sky.

I wish I could remember more about clouds. I never know which type they are beyond my made up fanciful designations.

The flower on top of the bathroom house at the arboretum moves with the wind.

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