Sunset April 4 2015

You can never tell how a sunset is going to turn out.  Half an hour earlier it looked like it would be a dud, with a heavy cloud bank out in the Pacific swallowing up the sun.  But minutes later, things happened, and it became notable for high structure and interesting color.  Here, the immediate area around the setting sun on the horizon showed only some minor drama, with a small streaky cloud briefly lit from below, and then turning dark.  The main feature was a strong and straight cloud bank moving diagonally from southwest to northeast.  The unusual regularity and extension of this formation made it seem like a major highway in the sky.  This was odd because the prevailing wind at ground level was almost 90 degrees crosswise, from the northwest, and fairly stiff.  We often see clashes of different weather systems over the Bay and they usually make for interesting sunsets.  This one was worth watching not only toward the west, as usual, but also toward the east, over the Berkeley hills.  This show faded out with a lovely pink and purple display high up, soft like a Japanese watercolor.  A pity that hardly any other photographers were out there to record it.