Catalina Mountains, Arizona

Postcard US-4029693 to Belarus shows a storm brewing in the Catalina Mountains at Tucson, Arizona. Snow can be seen on the mountain peaks behind the Saguaro Cactus. Photo by Ray Manley.

Aurora Borealis

Postcard FI-2125042 from Finland shows a spectacular view of  the northern lights or aurora borealis, a natural light display in the sky usually seen in the high latitude area near Arctic, caused by charged particles from a solar storm entering Earth's magnetic field and causing the excitation of the neutral particles and consequent optical emissions.

Last Tuesday on March 17, 2015, a much stronger than usual solar storm hit Earth and created massive colorful northern lights. As a result, the auroral zones expanded southward, pushing auroral displays as far south as Kansas and Virginia in the United States.

Surfing Santa Cruz, California

Postcard NL-2915866 from the Netherlands shows a surfer drops into a powerful wave near Westcliff Drive in Santa Cruz, California. Autumn and winter storms in the North Pacific Ocean generate frequent large swells along the Central and Northern California coastline. Santa Cruz, 75 miles or 120 kilometers south of San Francisco, is a beach resort community with a population of 62,864 as of 2013 and home to  the University of California, Santa Cruz, a premier research institution and educational hub.

Separately, Garrett McNamara, an American professional big wave surfer, was featured in a previous blog.

Sturmgewalten

Postcard DE-3842889 from Germany shows a lighthouse amid the force of storm. Although there is no description on the back of the postcard,  it looks like the Warnemünde Westmole, one the twin lighthouses (known as Die Zwillinge locally) at Warnemünde which is a seaside resort of the city of Rostock in Mecklenburg, Germany. Warnemünde is located on the Baltic Sea, at the estuary of the river Warnow.

Leave your comment if you know otherwise.