The Heavens

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I take so many pictures of the skies, obviously there is something there I love, lol.

Psalm 147:8  —  Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.

I have loved the sky since I was a little girl. I don’t know how this relationship began. I was about 8 years old when while playing outdoors I suddenly looked up at the sky and saw what I thought was a large white bird going into the clouds. I thought nothing of it but kept right on playing.

Many years later as I grew older I would always wonder about the memory of that ‘bird’, it was too large to be a regular bird and why would it enter the clouds? But I will never be sure of what I saw.

Eversince I find myself in a constant state of anticipation and expectation, I scan the skies from the ground, from planes expecting to see an angel or Jesus out there.

I think of God and all the beauty His hands have made for us. In his wisdom the beauty also has a utilitarian side to them.

A Few Types of Clouds

• Cumulus clouds; flat on the bottom with big billowy tops
• Stratus clouds; short and spread across great distances
• Cirrus clouds; are thin, wispy clouds.
• Nimbus clouds; are rainy clouds.
• Lenticular clouds  have a distinctive swirl like circular pattern that can resemble a spinning top.
• Cap clouds usually found around mountain tops and seem to hover there, they actually resemble a cap.

Contrail clouds are rare, they are formed when the exhaust from jet planes are released. They occur when the upper atmospheric air freezes the liquid particles present in the exhaust. They usually dissipate very quickly.

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Examples of contrail clouds.

How are Clouds Useful?

Clouds provide barrier from the sun, protecting us from the heat moving both in and out of the earth’s atmosphere.

They hold water and return it back to us as rain. The rain allows the grass and trees to grow providing sustenance for us in so many ways. Research suggests that the net effect of currents upon the earth’s atmosphere help in cooling or warming the earth as is necessary.

Because clouds ‘blanket’ our planet they cool the surface by blocking radioactive heat loss thus warming the earth by approximately 7°C (13°F). The water vapor and gasses in their atmosphere absorbs some 20% of solar radiation providing us with a net coolness by 5°C (9°F).

Just a little FYI about clouds.

Does anyone enjoy clouds as much as I do?

As always God bless you all!