Southern Alberta skies through my camera: wave clouds over the foothills, smoky summer suns, fiery October sunrises and storm light. Each photo has a short note on the weather behind it.
One of these is featured as the Sky photo of the day on the home page, changing every day. Tap any photo to see it full size. Curious what you’re looking at? The free Weather School lesson on clouds explains it.
Peak colourOctober 17, 2026The moment the whole sky lights up red and orange. A few minutes later, it is gone.Sunrise coloursOctober 17, 2026The colours build as the sun gets closer to the horizon.Red sky in the morningOctober 17, 2026The old saying is "red sky in the morning, sailors take warning." In our part of the world it sometimes holds true.October sunriseOctober 17, 2026A fiery sunrise over the rooftops in Lethbridge.Fall colours and cirrusOctober 2, 2026Yellowing leaves under wispy cirrus cloud on an October morning.Moon and starsOctober 2, 2026A bright moon in a deep blue pre-dawn sky.Before dawnOctober 2, 2026Stars and a few small clouds before sunrise on a clear fall morning.Grey autumn skySeptember 26, 2026A thick deck of stratocumulus on a fall afternoon. Lumpy grey cloud like this rarely brings much rain.Sunrise panoramaSeptember 25, 2026The same sunrise from wide angle, with bands of cloud lit across the sky.Fire in the skySeptember 25, 2026Long bands of orange cloud at dawn. The colour comes from sunlight travelling a long way through the atmosphere.Dawn wave cloudsSeptember 25, 2026Feathery, wave-shaped high cloud lit pink by the rising sun.Pink dawn near GlenwoodSeptember 25, 2026At sunrise, high clouds catch the light while the ground is still dark. Closer to the mountains, wave clouds like these are common.Moonlit cloudSeptember 24, 2026Moonlight catches the edges of the clouds.Moon behind the cloudsSeptember 24, 2026The moon shining through breaks in the cloud on a September night.Pink layersSeptember 23, 2026The last pink light on the stacked cloud layers.Big prairie skySeptember 23, 2026Another panorama as the light fades. Wave clouds can stretch for a hundred kilometres or more.The whole sky at onceSeptember 23, 2026A wide panorama of the same wave clouds stretching from horizon to horizon.Folds of cloudSeptember 23, 2026Wavy cloud edges show the up-and-down motion of air downwind of the mountains.Sunset bandsSeptember 23, 2026Close-up of the wave cloud layers as the light turns gold.Golden wave cloudSeptember 23, 2026A smooth, lens-shaped band glowing at sunset. Clouds like this mean strong winds high above, even when it is calm on the ground.Mountain-wave skySeptember 23, 2026Repeating smooth bands are a sign of strong winds aloft flowing over the mountains to the west.Layers lit from belowSeptember 23, 2026The setting sun lights the bottoms of the higher cloud layers while the lower ones stay in shadow.Wave clouds at sunsetSeptember 23, 2026Smooth, layered bands like these often form in stable air flowing in waves downwind of the Rockies.Swirls in the skySeptember 23, 2026Twisting, feathery cloud textures show air moving at different speeds and directions at different heights.Light under the cloud deckSeptember 4, 2026A gap between the cloud and the horizon lets the setting sun light the underside of the sky.Chief Mountain on the horizonAugust 31, 2026Looking southwest across the prairie to the mountains on a hazy late-summer day.Last lightAugust 30, 2026Dark cloud bases and a blue sky deepening into night.Clouds at duskAugust 30, 2026The same evening. Long exposures on a phone at dusk bring out colour the eye barely sees.Dramatic evening skyAugust 30, 2026Streaks and layers of cloud at dusk, silhouetted against a deep blue sky.Blue hour cloudsAugust 30, 2026Just after sunset, the sky turns deep blue and the clouds show their structure against the last light.Layered sky over the campgroundAugust 29, 2026A panorama of mid-level cloud spreading across a summer afternoon sky.Mackerel skyAugust 24, 2026Rows of small, puffy altocumulus clouds on an August morning. Folklore says a mackerel sky can mean a change in the weather within a day or so.Evening sun over the riverAugust 15, 2026A late-summer sunstar over a shallow prairie river. The star shape comes from the camera lens, not the sun itself.A red sun in a smoky skyAugust 10, 2026Same evening, a few seconds later. On smoky days, check the Air Quality Health Index before heading out.Sun through wildfire smokeAugust 10, 2026Wildfire smoke turns the evening sun a deep red. The tiny smoke particles scatter away the blue and green light, so only the reds and oranges get through.
