April as seen in rain day frequencies; some wildflowers seen

update April
Captions included in diagram!

 

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Guest Statement/retrospective on March 2013 for Tucson by Mr. Mark Albright, a mostly temperature-centric climatologist specialist from the University of Washington:

“March 2013 was the 2nd warmest March in the past 65 years (1949-2013) at the Tucson Airport (KTUS) with an average temperature of 65.7 F which was +5.6 F above the 1981-2010 normal of 60.1 F. The only warmer March was 9 years ago in 2004 with a mean temperature of 66.6 F. By contrast, the coldest March occurred in 1973 with a mean temperature of only 51.6 F.

March 2013 precipitation totaled 0.01 inches at the Tucson Airport, the driest March since 1999 when ZERO precipitation was recorded in March. In the past 65 years ZERO precipitation has been observed in March 5 times: 1956, 1959, 1971, 1984, and 1999. March normal precipitation for the Tucson Airport is 0.73 inches.”

Mark may contribute more material in the future in the form of guest blogs when CM’s brain is fried.

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How about them Altocumulus castellanus/floccus virgae clouds yesterday?

8:54 AM. Altocumulus floccus virgae (with snow falling out) above a housing castellanus.
8:54 AM. Altocumulus floccus virgae (with snow falling out) above a housing castellanus.

 

9:07 AM. Long trails of snow made these clouds exceptional. In the foreground, riding pal, Nora B, who talks mainly about birds and wildflowers (she and hubby have a book out on the latter) while I talk mainly about clouds and snow aloft on the rides.
9:07 AM. Long trails of snow made these Altocumulus floccus clouds exceptional yesterday.   In the foreground, riding pal, Nora B, who talks mainly about birds and wildflowers (she and hubby have a book out on the latter, Wildflowers of Arizony) while I talk mainly about clouds and snow aloft on the rides, so there’s no real communication on the rides  (hahaha).   I thought you would want to know that.

The wildflowers were better than expected along the trail, considering our once a month storm frequency for the past three months. Here are some for you.  Can you name them?

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Dry, windy, dusty blast coming on Monday, followed by air that’s too cold for April later that day into the middle of the week, but you knew that already. More on weather tomorrow.

The End.

By Art Rangno

Retiree from a group specializing in airborne measurements of clouds and aerosols at the University of Washington (Cloud and Aerosol Research Group). The projects in which I participated were in many countries; from the Arctic to Brazil, from the Marshall Islands to South Africa.