As usual, we saw some nice cloud formations as we left the grocery store Friday night. This was from the parking lot.

The crepuscular rays weren’t particularly noticeable as I looked at the clouds, but they showed up well in the photo. I like the way the cloud in the middle left is half illuminated and half in shadow.

When we drove home, there were more nice clouds. We managed to snap a few shots and got this one.

Again, the crepuscular rays were not really noticeable as we drove, but they showed up in the photos. They aren’t extremely strong, but they’re definitely there.

Another interesting (at least to me) feature of the clouds Friday afternoon and evening was the way they changed. Late in the afternoon, but well before sunset, there were growing cumulus clouds everywhere. They had flat bottoms and billowing tops.

The bottoms of the clouds are all at about the same altitude, which is where the air from lower altitudes reaches saturation as it rises because of solar heating. At that point, water vapor starts to condense and form clouds. Condensation adds heat to the air, and it continues to rise. As it rises, more water vapor condenses and more latent heat is released. Under different conditions, these clouds could have eventually developed into thunderstorms. But, alas, none did, at least around us.

As the evening progressed and the solar heating decreased, the energy that drove these clouds’ development dissipated and the clouds began to change. There just wasn’t enough energy available to drive any more development once the sun went down. The flat bottoms became ragged and the tops stopped billowing. Some became closer to stratus clouds and others remained more like cumulus clouds. Eventually they turned into what we saw on our way home.

This is a panorama from our new house site made just as we reached home.

Some of these clouds still have billowy tops, but there was not much going on by this time.