Sleeping Giant Fall Glow (Portrait)

In autumn, especially late fall into early winter, along and east of Montana’s continental divide, clouds, called mountain waves, will form parallel to ridges forming long arches that might stretch for hundreds of miles along the eastern front of the Rockies. At dawn or at sunset, these clouds can explode with color and offer some brilliant textures and shapes. Also known as Chinook Arch clouds, they are common during drier warmer and breezier conditions, a byproduct of down slopping westerly winds. For this photo, I found an Chinook Arch that began in Helena and stretched north past the local icon, the Sleeping Giant Mountain. The glow of the cloud at sunset lit the entire landscape including the rocky giant in the distance.