In case you haven’t been on the DC Mall recently to see the Washington Monument I include a couple of pictures. Currently it is entirely surrounded by a scaffold so they can make repairs of the damage from the earthquake a year or so ago—apparently there are at least several significant cracks in the stones. It is kind of impressive and the scaffolding has lights throughout that make a nice evening picture especially reflected in the pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The third picture is a meteorological bonus which is kind of rare. You should be able to see dark lines in the sky to the right of the monument. They are cloud shadows often seen near the sun but these are directly opposite the sun. We are sitting on the Lincoln Memorial and so looking east. The sun of course sets in the west. Normally the cloud shadows (known as crepuscular rays) converge on the sun. These are converging on the point in the sky directly opposite the sun (known as the anti-solar point). The lines are parallel and come from clouds on the western horizon. So like any parallel lines, like straight train tracks, they appear to converge in the distance. So the technical description of the phenomena is “crepuscular rays converging on the anti-solar point”. Linda thinks I sound like a nerd what I say that.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Aug 2013 18:41:42 +0000
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