New York City, June 8, 2016

★★ Two layers of streaked cloud lay perpendicular to each other, crosshatching the sky. Then came white peppercorns and scraps of fractus, their relative position and motion confusing the eye. Soon enough everything simplified to thick rippling rain clouds. The rain threatened the whole back end of the morning before finally delivering on the threat, coming on with a crackle like twigs popping in a fire. It kept blowing just hard enough to discourage any efforts to let in fresh air. Once the downpour had eased, it was nicer to be outside, in the frank cold and wet, than indoors in the stifling damp. Abruptly every cloud was gone, and leather jackets were out.