Tag Archives: Bay City Bay

Destination, Drone, Photography, River-scapes

BAY CITY BAY- BAY CITY, WI

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BAY CITY BAY

I had not been to Bay City Bay since January to photograph.  Given the low water on the Mississippi River, I decided to go over and take a look.  The weather this Spring was oddly warm;  now the dog days of Summer have come and gone.  The weather appears to be taken a turn for cooler.  No complaints here.

We often hear about the “dog days” of summer but few know what the expression means. Some say that it signifies hot sultry days “not fit for a dog,” others suggest it’s the weather in which dogs go mad. The Dog Days of Summer describes the most oppressive period of summer, between July 3rd and August 11th each year. But where did the term come from? And what does it have to do with dogs?

The phrase is actually a reference to the fact that, during this time, the Sun occupies the same region of the sky as Sirius, the brightest star visible from any part of Earth and part of the constellation Canis Major, the Greater Dog. This is why Sirius is sometimes called the Dog Star.

In the summer, Sirius rises and sets with the Sun. On July 23rd, specifically, it is in conjunction with the Sun, and because the star is so bright, the ancient Romans believed it actually gave off heat and added to the Sun’s warmth, accounting for the long stretch of sultry weather.

Thus, the term Dog Days of Summer came to mean the 20 days before and 20 days after this alignment of Sirius with the Sun—July 3 to August 11 each year. – Farmers Almanac

These photos where taken August 30th 2021.  You can really see how low the water is given the drought throughout most of the Summer.  The Algae is rather prolific as well.

Destination, Drone, Panorama, Photography, River-scapes

SUNRISE – BAY CITY, WI

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SUNRISE – BAY CITY, WI

After consulting The Photographer’s Ephemeris and Skyfire app it appeared as though there would be a great chance for some color at sunrise this morning at one of my favorite locations – Bay City.

While driving from Red Wing to Bay City, my optimism for color was not increasing.  When I arrived at the Bay City campground, there was a bit of color on the horizon out over the bay.

iPhone photo

As you can see from the above photo, the cloud cover was dominating the scene.  Even though it was in the single digits and quite cold, I stuck around.  Clouds can shift and conditions can change rapidly.  I capture three different [mostly gray] panorama via my drone.Bay City Sunrise

Bay City Sunrise

Bay City Sunrise

I am always fascinated by the patterns in the snow and ice.
Bay City Sunrise

It didn’t look like the sunrise was going to amount to much.  I put my drone away, but hung around a little longer.  The sun tried a bit more to break through, but didn’t really completely.  I took a couple photos with my iPhone and then there was nothing but gray.

Bay City Sunrise
iPhone photo
Bay City Sunrise
iPhone photo

How Skyfire app works

skyfireSkyfire forecasts are displayed as a map overlay with varying colors to indicate the type of conditions and forecast probability of a colorful sunrise or sunset. Colorful conditions arise when there are clouds in the sky that are underlit by the sun when it is near the horizon.

Although it is possible to see colorful clear skies, these colors are typically associated with twilight conditions (such as the ‘Belt of Venus’ or the deep blue/orange colors of nautical twilight). Skyfire forecasts do not cover these phenomena.

Clear skies, that is, where there are expected to be no clouds to underlight, are not assigned a color. Cloudy, overcast conditions, where the extent of the clouds precludes the chance for underlighting, are shown as white.

When cloud cover is broken, or lies at the edge of a weather front, there is a chance of colorful underlighting. The probability of a colorful sunrise or sunset developing is indicated on a color spectrum ranging from blue/green to red, where the redder the color, the higher the probability, as shown in the table below:

Clear Clear skies forecast
Cloudy Overcast, with little chance of underlighting
50% (blue) Clouds with some chance of underlighting
70% (yellow) Clouds with a good chance of underlighting
90% (red) Clouds with a high chance of underlighting
Nature, Photography, Project, Wildlife

AS THE WATER RECEDES | Part 2 – Bay City, WI #plasticpolution

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AS THE WATER RECEDES | Part 2

I wanted to provide an update on a previous post, AS THE WATER RECEDES – Bay City, WI #plasticpolution.  Earth Day seemed like a great time to do so.

The water was receding and making progress, but snow melt in Northern Minnesota and recent rains has the water level on the rise once again.  I’ve made several trips to Bay City since cleanup effort on Saturday April 6th, watching and waiting for the water level to go down.  The Village of Bay City has made great efforts in cleaning up the debris that washed ashore at Saratoga Park.

Before
After

It was happy to see that only traces of garbage remain.

Before
After

If you were ever looking for a bit of driftwood, I would think now would be the perfect time to find whatever shape/size you desire.  There are numerous piles that have been gathered up.

AS THE WATER RECEDES
Driftwood

What boggles my mind though is there was a fresh Mountain Dew can laying on the side of the road.  I still struggle with what goes through the mind of the individual that discards a soda can.  It isn’t that difficult to recycle.

AS THE WATER RECEDES
Discarded soda can

It was encouraging to see that the campground area was mostly devoid of trash.  During the mechanical clean up, more worm and snuff containers turned up.  There is a whole lot of natural debris; cleaning that up will take some work.  If only one could snap their fingers to change the hearts and minds of those who seeming don’t give a hoot.  It’s a process.  Tell people how you feel about this sort of thing; make your opinion known whenever and where ever you can.  Plastic pollution is terrible, it’s ugly and it horrible for the wildlife.

Destination, Drone, Panorama, Photography, River-scapes

AS THE WATER RECEDES – Bay City, WI #plasticpolution

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AS THE WATER RECEDES

As the water recedes there remains an unfortunate scene.  If it were only driftwood and leaves, no worries would there be.  The plastic though – six pack rings, soda and booze bottles, snuff and worm containers and butane lighters litter the shore in Bay City Bay.  You can see the line of debris on the road in the photos below.

AS THE WATER RECEDES
Lake Pepin Blvd – Bay City Park
AS THE WATER RECEDES
Lake Pepin Blvd – Bay City Park

It’s troubling to see.  The Styrofoam chunks.  The flip flops and sandals missing their other half.  Unbroken light bulbs even.  The trash.  It’s an ugly sight in such a beautiful place.  A very small sample of 2,320 miles of Mississippi River shoreline.

Plastic pollution is terrible.  Everyone has seen what is happening in the oceans.  I see this a lot in the local trout streams I fish.  My fishing net is most often full of cans, bottles and plastic worm containers each time I leave the stream.  My wife and I constantly retrieve plastic bottles from the Bay City area while kayaking.  Each and every time I encounter this, I utter to myself, “what the hell is wrong with people?”  I understand that plastic is extremely useful – especially in healthcare.  How some can so carelessly discard it is beyond comprehension.   This is only going to get worse unless people start thinking beyond the convenience of today.

Give a hoot! Don't pollute!
Litter is every town’s dirty little secret. No one wants to admit how ugly it is, or the fact that it is getting worse despite decades of anti-litter education such as those early-’70s posters and commercials whose taglines were “Don’t be a litterbug” and “Give a hoot. Don’t pollute.”

The dirtiest part of this dirty secret is that many if not most litterers are young. They’re not so young that they don’t realize what they’re doing. They’re cognizant enough to acquire the snacks and cigarettes in the first place, to choose from a selection of products and brands and pay for their selections. When they litter, they know they’re littering.
~www.psychologytoday.com

The bulk of the problem in my estimation

Some people litter because they’ve come to believe that whatever they do, others will pick up after them. They have no sense of responsibility. This idea was confirmed by a veteran California highway patrolman who reported that in his twenty years-plus of pulling drivers over for tossing litter out their car windows — a misdemeanor punishable by fines of up to $1,000 — not once had an offender ever apologized once caught. They either denied having littered or shrugged off the act as insignificant ~ Rob Wallace, Keep America Beautiful

Plastic pollution links

National Geographic 
WE MADE PLASTIC. WE DEPEND ON IT. NOW WE’RE DROWNING IN IT.

phys.org 
Beyond the oceans—microplastics pollute rivers and lakes, too

inlandwaterwaysinternational.org 
Prevent plastic pollution in waterways

Adopt-A-Drain 
A initiative to keep trash out of the waterways

Other links

The Irish Times
Talking rubbish: what makes people litter?

End Littering
Keep America Beautiful