Always Chasing

***UPDATE*** ... so upon reading this, I find that it is scatterbrained drivel. Lol. I'm going to try and rewrite it soon. Please don't judge. Lol. ***

New Years in Butte, America

I decided to stick around my homeland for the turning of the New Year this year. It would be the first time I had done this since before I moved to Colorado in the summer of 2004. The extra time spent with my family made it more than worth while. On New Year's Eve, I opted to head Uptown and spend the turning of the year above the city, clicking away at the headframes and enjoying the free amateur pyrotechnic displays that were likely to occur.


The Steward Headframe with the Hotel Finlen and downtown Butte in the distance.


Looking up Minah Street toward the Mountain Con Headframe


Ghostly self-portrait with the Bell/Diamond Headframe and the city below.


Bell/Diamond Headframe just before midnight.


Bell/Diamond just after midnight.


IC Church, Anselmo Headframe, and Big Butte.


From left to right: Mountain Con, Bell/Diamond, Steward, and Original Headframes.


Looking south down Main Street through Uptown Butte.


And finally, the Original Headframe and a bit of pyrotechnics.



I missed a lot of the pyrotechnics, given that they were randomly shot off throughout Uptown, but the night was still great. Though I'm disappointed with a few shots (still using my backup tripod), I am very pleased with others.

Though I've been gone some five years, Butte will always be home to me and I'm happy to have spent the New Year there.

Dann.

More Images From Butte, Montana

A few more photos from my holiday to Montana. All of these photos were taken on December 30th. Most of them were taken in or around the Uptown Butte / Walkerville area except for the last one, which was taken along Blacktail Creek on The Flats in Butte. (click images for large view)

The Concentrator (Montana Resources)


The Diamond/Bell Headframe (a favorite subject of mine)


The Granite Mountain Headframe


The Badger State Headframe


Mount Fleecer with crepuscular rays (from Alexander Street)


Common Snipe taking a drink along the Greenway (Blacktail Creek).


Dann

Butte, Montana's Copperway (December 28th)

While on holiday in Montana, on December 28th, I took a walk with my parents along Butte's relatively new walking trail, the Copperway. The photos below were all taken along the trail.

Signage for the Copperway and the Mountain Con(solidated) Headframe in the background.


Foreground: Uptown Butte & the Hotel Finlen, Background: Downtown Butte/The Flats and Timber Butte on the right, Distant: The Highland Mountains (Also a very stout and stagnant inversion in place)


The Original (Mine) Headrame overlooking Butte.



My father and mother walking through the tunnel under North Montana Street, the Anselmo Headframe in the distance.



Anselmo Headframe and mineyard.



BA&P



West down Caledonia Street, the Immaculate Conception (IC) Church and some nice turbulent wave cloud action.



The Orphan Girl Headframe at the World Museum Of Mining. Distant: Pintler Mountains right to left, Mount Haggin, Short Peak, and Mount Evans. Also, nice turbulent clouds.

All in all, it was a nice day for a walk. We were just above the inversion and enjoyed temperatures at or around 30ºF, which isn't all that bad in full sun. Notice, though, the lack of snow. It's been a dry winter in Southwest Montana so far.

Dann.

Very Intense Tropical Cyclone 07S Edzani

Another beautiful cyclone in the Southern Indian Ocean this week. 07S Edzani is currently weakening but at one point was very intense. Dvorak estimates had its intensity at 889mb and 149kt, though official advisories were less intense (this is common).





Imagery from yesterday near max intensity:




I'd be a little remiss if I didn't talk about the ridiculous cold air over the country. Take Florida for example:


The one and only time I visited Florida was in March of 1993. Ring any bells? Let's just say it snowed while I was at Epcot Center and it wasn't Disney magic. I suppose similar thoughts may be going through some people's heads. :)

Dann.

Christmas Day Photos: South of Butte, Montana ... Plus, 07S Edzani

I spent Christmas Day with my family up at "Wapiti Mountain", or my grandmother's house in the foothills to the Highland Mountains in Silver Bow County, Montana. It was a beautiful day, snowing off and on (big dendrites), though the sun was out half of the time.


Clark's Nutcracker


The Highland Mountains as visible from the balcony (light snow was falling)



A couple of Mule Deer.



And in the tropics, 07S Edzani has intensified to 125kt and should continue to strengthen over the next 24 hours.




Dann.

Ice Spikes & Light Pillars

Just starting to get around to photos from my Holiday Vacation home to Montana. These first two were taken on my trip up to Montana on December 23rd. If you'll recall, quite the storm was taking shape here in Colorado. Driving through it wasn't easy. The stretch from Fort Collins to Cheyenne was especially icy and I counted 20-30 vehicles off of the road. I stopped in Cheyenne to fuel up and found that my wheels had grown some nice ice spikes!



The trip from Cheyenne to Casper was even worse. It took almost five hours. Ground blizzard plus a slippery road made the trip exhausting. I almost called it a night and stayed in Casper, but after a Belgian waffle from IHOP in Casper, I was ready to continue on. Luckily, the snow seemed to completely disappear right outside of Casper and I didn't encounter any hazardous driving conditions until driving through the Pryor Mountains in Montana.

In Billings, it was quite cold and I started seeing some great light pillars, so I took a shot or two...



Eventually, I was back on the road and dealt with only some light snow and patchy ice on my three hour trip to Butte. I arrived at 2:30AM to my parents' house all decorated and nice but not much snow on the ground there!


... more from my trip in the next few days.

Dann.