A better butter sunset
The Sun in California has its particular ways of setting into the ocean. From our house, it provides us this treat for about a third of the year. In the lower photo, see the dark mass arrowing into the Pacific from the right? That is Point Loma. The Sun in a few more weeks will transit Point Loma, and until late in the fall, all our sunsets will be over land. I always watch for the Point Loma transit, because it is so cool to watch, but it can be hard to catch. I hope I can post a transit photo when the time comes.
In the meantime, what we have here, from last night, is the maximum butter puddle effect. I have never seen one like this. On some evenings the Sun gives the appearance of a cool ball of butter spreading out into the warm ocean. The actual facts are the opposite, a hot Sun contacting a very cold ocean, thanks to a cold and deep Alaskan current that protects San Diego from the summer and fall Pacific hurricanes that move northward from the Mexican coasts until they hit that current and fall apart. I have mixed feelings about this. I would love three or four tropical storms a year, but they never get here.
But I never argue with the ways Nature chooses to present beauty to me, and every way unique. If Nature can cause a hot Sun to puddle like butter into a cold ocean, hooray. I have been watching sunsets from this location for 20 years, no two alike. This is the first butter puddle effect that sustained itself so long. And that doesn't count the melting of the ball into the puddle. The effect you see, which looks for all the world like a bright city on the horizon, was in sight for almost two minutes. If you want a closer look, click on the photos and they will expand.
In the meantime, what we have here, from last night, is the maximum butter puddle effect. I have never seen one like this. On some evenings the Sun gives the appearance of a cool ball of butter spreading out into the warm ocean. The actual facts are the opposite, a hot Sun contacting a very cold ocean, thanks to a cold and deep Alaskan current that protects San Diego from the summer and fall Pacific hurricanes that move northward from the Mexican coasts until they hit that current and fall apart. I have mixed feelings about this. I would love three or four tropical storms a year, but they never get here.
But I never argue with the ways Nature chooses to present beauty to me, and every way unique. If Nature can cause a hot Sun to puddle like butter into a cold ocean, hooray. I have been watching sunsets from this location for 20 years, no two alike. This is the first butter puddle effect that sustained itself so long. And that doesn't count the melting of the ball into the puddle. The effect you see, which looks for all the world like a bright city on the horizon, was in sight for almost two minutes. If you want a closer look, click on the photos and they will expand.
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