A remarkably long-lasting and exquisitely textured sunset painted the central Oklahoma sky, as seen from the National Weather Center’s observation deck. This wasn’t saturation-adjusted in any way from what was on the raw file. Instead, the scene appeared just this way when using a long-pipe lens to zoom deeply into the reddest part of the illuminated cirrus field, when overhead and nearby clouds had started to fade just a bit. A clean, relatively unpolluted sky helped to bring out intricate detail in the most distant clouds, just above the horizon, and many tens of miles away. Every good show has to end, and this atmospheric theatrical performance left me with a sense of mourning in its absence.
