A few mornings ago the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico conducted a test of the Patriot interceptor, producing iridescent rocket exhaust visible across the early morning sky of northern Arizona.
Exhaust trails from rockets launched in New Mexico as part of a test.
From the SpaceWeather.com web site: “…The test proceeded as follows: A Juno rocket was launched from Fort Wingate in Gallup, New Mexico. This served as the target for another missile, the Patriot Advanced Capability 3 interceptor, launched shortly thereafter from White Sands. A press release from White Sands confirmed the test and stated that “the Juno performed as expected…”
Iridescence in the exhaust trails from a rocket launch over New Mexico.
It’s not often that you get to see a missile launch from Arizona.
We recently took a trip to White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. The weather forecast that day called for increasing clouds and a chance of thunderstorms — some possibly severe — by late afternoon. Normally, this would be a deterrent to those wishing to visit this wonderful place but since I enjoy photographing thunderstorms and severe weather this was an opportunity not to be missed.
Rainbow over White Sands National Monument.
We arrived at WSNM in mid-afternoon and the clouds were beginning to fill the sky. We were soon rewarded with a rainbow stretching across the parabolic dunes on the edge of the dune fields. As that first storm moved away, other storms began to develop back to the west. I set up the camera to take lightning photographs and was rewarded with a couple of pretty good shots.
Late afternoon cloud-to-ground lightning over White Sands National Monument.
But the really wonderful part came the next morning. Those afternoon thunderstorms continued through the evening and into the night and produced about one and a half inches of rain across the sands. And in the bright blue sky of the following morning we found shallow lakes of up to a few inches deep scattered across the sands as a result of the heavy rainfall. The reflections of the sand dunes and other vegetation in these ephemeral lakes was simply delightful.
Reflections in the shallow lakes produced by heavy rainfall across White Sands National Monument.
