Summer clouds.

Sometimes they seem to carry messages.

Or—in the perceptions of some—faces.

Is that the case with this one?

Skeptics call it “pareidolia,” as we’ve mentioned many times.

Is Jesus to be found? And others?

Or is it simply a hovering condensation of moisture (over Flagler Beach, Florida).

We know the prosaic message of some atmospheric characteristics. (Darkness means rain.)

Right now, Canada and many states in the Northeast and upper Midwest have been seeing through a haze of orange and red, the wafting smoke from more than a hundred fires in Canada.

From winter’s unusual frigidity, now there are “heat domes” and a stirring El Niño in the Pacific that is all but certain to bring topsy-turvy weather around much of the world, particularly the U.S. and northern South America, in the coming months.

It is the biggest El Nino (a patch of periodic and unusually warm water) in the ocean.

It can bring thermometer-busting warmth as well as atmospheric violence.

It’s named after the Christ Child because many of its effects are noted around Christmas.

In the United States, El Niño often means a wetter, stormier winter across the South, where strong fronts, heavy rain, severe thunderstorms, and even tornadoes may become more likely. California may receive drenching rains. Northern states can experience a milder winter. Atlantic hurricanes are often fewer because stronger upper-level winds interfere with their development (or so it is hoped).

Across the world, the pattern may bring flooding to western South America, drought to Australia and Indonesia, disruptions to farming, weakened fisheries, and changes in global temperature.

Will its clouds too harbor what are seen as figures or faces?

The gyration in our climate is stoking it up to record levels. Even the Vatican newspaper [see here] is highlighting it.

Signs of the times. They are real. They may unfold more gradually than some expected. But isn’t “gradual” often God’s subtlety and way?

[resources: Tower of Light]