photo #6300954

Sandra Starck (Member 9,700) spotted a giant fan of Cirrus fibratus radiatus clouds stretching west across Lake Superior from Bark Point, in Herbster, Wisconsin, US. ‘Being here provides me with unobstructed views of sky and water,’ Sandra tells us. As the March day approached its end, hints of a faint 22-degree halo optical effect caused by the Cirrus cloud’s ice crystals were just visible as part of a broad circle around the low Sun. The streaming clouds easily stretched across this, the largest of the Great Lakes and the world’s largest freshwater lake by surface area at 32,000 square miles (82,000 square km) – 1/3 the size of the entire UK. Due to the effect of perspective, the parallel streaks of Cirrus seem to emanate from Duluth, Minnesota, some 45 miles (70 km) away on the horizon. ‘My joy,’ says Sandra about her location on the peninsula of Bark Point, ‘is in being able to overlook the vastness of this Great Lake to my west, north, and east, and to watch the interplay of clouds and water in all seasons.’