That long plume is intriguing, is it natural or a jet-trail?

A month without rain? And warm weather too... it almost sounds like California. I do remember a spell of summer like that back in the early 1980s when I lived there.

Amazing clouds you captured with your camera!

We don't look up often enough and even less often do we point our cameras upwards. Thanks for the reminder. A cloud like a feather! I saw one today, but nothing compared with this one!

Lucy, I wondered too if it was a jet trail but it seemed natural to me. I may be mistaken.

Maria, summertime in Vancouver is usually our only long dry period, mostly July and August. I'm longing for a little rain, just to give the garden a deep soak.

Joe, the early morning and the evening skies can be so beautiful but I don't often take photos unless it's this unusual.

I saw those clouds last night when we were walking the dogs. I wished I had brought my camera. What a picture!

Wow, what amazing clouds! Glad you're getting some cool breezes in the evening. It's still very hot and humid here, though we have had a few rainstorms in between. Last night's passing storms actually did cool things down a bit, but not for long! Glad you have some water from the snows - funny they came *after* the Olympics. So much for the plans of men. :-)

I've never seen a feather cloud before your photo, Marja-Leena; wonderful!

I have seen a roll of cloud along a changing weather front, but it was attached to the bank of clouds behind it. I think your capture is of a weather phenomenom. Eric Sloane wrote a slim volume about clouds, which I have somewhere in this house, that might mention your lovely feather. If I find a name for it, I'll post it here.

All the coastal cities on the west coast have a wet season and a dry season. The farther north, the shorter the dry season.
My niece says the weather was perfect for the folk festival. Vancouver is heaven when the weather is perfect.
Thanks for the photos, which make me feel I haven't completely missed out on the Vancouver summer.

Anne, when you write that you saw this same cloud, it makes me realize how very close we live to each other... just across a border.

Leslee, we usually get a couple of thunderstorms after a long heat wave... maybe in August, like last year? You sure are having a very long spell of hot weather back east. I don't think I could take it.

Martha, I'd love to learn more about this cloud formation if you come across it! Which reminds me of our flight across Canada from Montreal. We had such amazing cloud shapes beneath us all the way across and I kick myself for not taking photos.

Hattie, that's right! The dry season of course varies a bit year to year. Just today we had a 'no fires in campgrounds' notice which shows the forests are very dry. I'm glad you're enjoying my photos. Was it already a year ago you were here the Folk Fest and we met?

Yep! It's been a whole year. Goes fast.

One of the things I've loved about living in Portland is the Maxfield Parrish skies. Your pictures remind me.

Susan, wouldn't it be interesting to label different skies by the names of artists, like you've just done?!

Beautiful cloud photos Marja-Leena.
I too wondered about that tall feathery one, especially since I've just been reading about Chemtrails (different from Contrails, the normal type). There are lot of videos about it on YouTube (just enter CHEMTRAILS in the search box) and the factual stuff is quite frightening. Particularly an interview with a couple from, I think, Vancouver Island. I'll find the link again and send it to you.

Natalie, I did as you suggested and must say I'm shocked at what I found! Conspiracy theory or not?

Marja-Leena, here's a Wiki site, giving links to other sites wherer information can be found about chemtrails:
http://chemtrails.wikia.com/wiki/Chemtrails_Wiki

There is plenty of evidence that some sort of chemical spraying from jet planes is going on, perhaps in govt. attempts to prevent or halt global warming by altering weather. But also that whatever chemicals are being sprayed may have dubious effects on human, animal and agricultural health. I don't believe in the crazy conspiracy theories that have come up and hooked on to the fact of chemtrails, but there should certainly be more rigorous investigation and more public information about it.

Okay, I've found the other video link of the couple from Vancouver Island (who seem perfectly rational and reliable) talking about chemtrails:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSCIQ14dHqM&feature=related

Natalie, thanks so much for the eye-opening links. Good grief, this is just horrifying and sickening!! How come I've not heard of this before? The Vancouver Island couple do make very intelligent observations and their experiences with denials from government ministers make this sound extremely sinister. What is going on in this mad mad world?

Marja-Leena, what to do about it?
One possibility: those who have their own garden, roof terrace or balcony could lay down a large tarpaulin, as Mr.Abram did (video of the Vancouver couple talking about chemtrails they've observed) and leave it out to collect samples of the talc-like dust which apparently floats down from those trails. Then they could get a professional lab to analyse the substances. So far it seems that aluminium and barium particles have been found. But the more evidence is collected from many more people, the more a valid case could be built in order to oblige government and scientific sources to come up with answers about what's going on.

Natalie, excellent suggestions! I think back to how many times I've had to wipe our outdoor furniture and now wonder if some of the pollution is from chemtrails.

And the weird thing is now when I see other cloud photos I see them so differently, such as these ones at Nonparelli, a Finnish blog. Shudder!

I noticed amongst some of the links you sent me that they've been spotted in the UK too. Have you seen them there?

This is extremely disturbing - I'm going to watch the skies more carefully and see if I can spot any of these.