Skywatch Friday: winter skies over Montana

Though we're not quite at the Winter Solstice, the low sun angle, short days, and first sub-zero weather mark our transition from fall to winter here in Butte America. The season also brings spectacular skies, sometimes in the form of colorful sunrises with weird cloud formations:

Or sunrises with bizarre colors and cool clouds:

After a snowstorm passes through, it is usually followed by cold, clear skies--blue so bright it brings tears:

Sometimes, at sunset, the Butte valley is filled with a rosy light and super sharp views in the crisp air:

Like the light, our local ravens also take on a new nature for the season. A local mated pair commonly croaks outside my office window (and I croak back--they seem to like that), but on this day as I walked outside for a break one of them came down for a personal "Howdy":

 

Maybe it was the raven's way of thanking me for the pile of bones and other butchering "recycle material" in the back of my pickup?