There are natural desert shrubs along the road in front of our house. One of those is a small palo verde tree. I took advantage of its green color by hanging red Christmas ornaments on it. I think it looks festive and cute. Click on the image to enlarge.
I don’t know what type of tree this is, but it has turned the nice shade of red over the last few weeks. Click on the image to enlarge.
I took this photo from the bridge over the Hassayampa River today on our way back from a shopping trip to Surprise, AZ. This is looking approximately north and parallel to the river bank. A month or two ago, all the vegetation would have been green but now some are turning to their fall colors. Click on the image to enlarge.
These colorful solar animations are always very interesting to me. Click animation below to view full-sized version.
From SpaceWeather.com:
A radiation storm that began on Nov. 26th when a magnetic filament erupted on the sun is subsiding. Nevertheless, the Earth-effects are just beginning. The same explosion that caused the radiation storm also hurled a CME into space at about 930 km/s (2 million mph). According to analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, the CME will reach our planet on Nov. 28th at 17:21 UT (+/- 7 hours).
This video compresses about an hour of solar activity around a sunspot to a little over ten seconds.
Via APOD:
The Sun’s surface keeps changing. The above movie shows how the Sun’s surface oozes during a single hour. The Sun’s photosphere has thousands of bumps called granules and usually a few dark depressions called sunspots.
The Consumers Alliance for Global Prosperity has a new video out exposing Greenpeace and how Greenpeace’s environmentalism actually hurts the developing world. I had to laugh at the sinister sounding Halloween-ish narration.
Via Planet Gore.
I took this image going through the bottom of a wash just north of US 60 in Wickenburg, AZ. The desert town has lots of washes that eventually flow toward the Hassayampa River.
This APS pole has a flood depth gauge painted on it scaled in feet. At the top of the hill before you drive into the wash there is a warning sign posted by the town that says:
“WHEN FLOODED TURN AROUND – DON’T DROWN.”
Image – Flash Flood Gauge. Click on the image to enlarge.
We have yet to see a gully-washer since we moved here last year. It would be interesting to see this wash during a flash flood but we’ll curb our curiosity and try to stay home when the monsoons come around.