Randall wrote:
The Santa Catalina Mountains are often the backdrop for incredible crepuscular rays as was the case this morning (27 SEP 2013 07:40-08:02) with of course our Century Saguaro photo-bombing the pic.
Crepuscular rays – also called sunrays – are columns of sunlit air, streaming through gaps in clouds or other objects (for example, mountain peaks). Darker cloud-shadowed regions lie between the sunlit columns. These rays are really parallel to each other. But they appear to diverge, much as a road that looks narrow in the distance appears wide beneath your feet.
Crepuscular means like twilight or dim. That’s a clue that this effect is normally seen before sunrise or just after sunset, when the sky is somewhat dark.
Here’s another of Randall’s pictures from the same morning.
Thank you Randall!