Yosemite Moonbow Season Starts Next Month!

After catching the setting sun’s light on Horsetail Fall this month, I can’t wait for the next big annual astronomical event in Yosemite: moonbows in the mist of Yosemite’s waterfalls. These night rainbows happen at certain times on certain nights based on the position of the moon in the sky relative to your viewing position. The moon moves a lot from night to night, so the time you’ll catch them in a given waterfall changes every night.

This year the moonbows should be the strongest they’ve been in recent years, due to the El Nino weather pattern bringing us a healthy snowpack in the Sierra Nevada. The main months to capture the moonbows are April and May, although they can continue in June in many waterfalls if their flow stays healthy. IF you’d like to try for them with me in April, I’ll be showing photographers around the park’s amazing landscape, capturing wildflowers and practicing night photography to take advantage of this rare opportunity in this particularly strong year: http://www.jeffsullivanphotography.com/blog/yosemite-national-park-photography-workshops/

Many people know of two or three places to capture moonbows at night in Yosemite, but the possibilities are nearly endless once you understand the basic geometry invovled.

At the end of April 2016 we should catch the end of the season for California poppies, perhaps the start of the season for dogwood trees blooming, and we may get a late spring storm to enhance sunset and sunrise, and decorate the park with a light dusting of snow. It’s one of my favorite times of the year to explore Yosemite, and you can see why in this album:
https://plus.google.com/photos/107459220492917008623/albums/5831194499079947137

+Yosemite National Park Workshops

#yosemitenationalpark #photographyworkshops #moonbows #fullmoon #astrophotography

Spring Workshops in Yosemite
111 new photos · Album by Jeff Sullivan