Thunderblasts after midnight awaken sleeping Catalinans with 50 mph winds, graupel, and R++; latest storm total now 1.38 inches!

In case you don’t believe me that over an inch fell, this digital record from Sutherland Heights with writing on it: Probably a little more to come, too.  Got some blow damage, I’m sure.  Will be looking for roof shingles around the yard today. And, as everyone knows from their favorite TEEVEE weatherperson, “New Storm… Continue reading Thunderblasts after midnight awaken sleeping Catalinans with 50 mph winds, graupel, and R++; latest storm total now 1.38 inches!

Drencher! 1.07 inches drenches Catalina/Sutherland Heights

What a nice steady rain with honest-to-goodness drizzle mixed in over the past two days.   We’ve now had 4.24 inches in the past 30 days! And yesterday, you saw the rarely captured on film,  drizzly Stratus clouds, essentially something akin to wallpaper in the sky, but with misty visibility below its base.  I hope you… Continue reading Drencher! 1.07 inches drenches Catalina/Sutherland Heights

Sutherland Heights storm total now 0.71 inches as of 7 AM; soil turning green as moss look alike growth reminding one of Seattle spurts from bare ground!

First, in blogging for dollars, this: Here’s a nice one from the day before as the clouds rolled in, starting with Cirrus and Altocumulus, lowering to Stratocumulus later in the afternoon. Yesterday’s clouds; an extraordinary day with a little drizzle amid light showers Hope you noticed the true drizzle that occurred yesterday, namely, fine (larger… Continue reading Sutherland Heights storm total now 0.71 inches as of 7 AM; soil turning green as moss look alike growth reminding one of Seattle spurts from bare ground!

Hawaii comes to Arizona from Mexico; 5.91 inches at Dan Saddle! 6.43 inches on Mt. Graham!

Former Hurricane ‘Newt’ brought some real humidity, low clouds with unusually warm bases (around 15-20 ° C) to Tucson and Catalina yesterday as its remnant center passed just about over us. Old Newt was “dragging” here as a tropical storm, aloft it was pretty strong still,  brought near hurricane force winds on isolated, high, mountain… Continue reading Hawaii comes to Arizona from Mexico; 5.91 inches at Dan Saddle! 6.43 inches on Mt. Graham!

The perfect rain

The “perfect storm”?  Well, maybe the perfect rain, and it kept giving fro several hours yesterday after our best model said it should end yesterday before 11 AM.  And what a nice rain!  1.18 inches total here in Sutherland Heights, as measured by a CoCoRahs plastic 4 inch gauge.  (You might consider getting one, btw,… Continue reading The perfect rain

Hawai’i in Arizona

Yesterday, in the wake of TD Odile, it was about as Hawaiian a day in Arizona as you are ever likely to see. First, the high dewpoints, ones that replicate those in HI, mid and upper 60s (69-70 F in HNL right now), cloud base temperatures of around 60 F, and with misty, even drizzly… Continue reading Hawai’i in Arizona

Rain doesn’t show, but sunset does

Yesterday was equal to the most potent cloud day that cloud maven person has seen since moving to Catalina in 2008; from clear skies to thunder before 10 AM!  Fortunately, in spite of all the incredible cloud scenes around, fine, tall clouds so early in the day, CMP was able to control himself and only… Continue reading Rain doesn’t show, but sunset does

1.77 inches in Catalina and counting

….as of 6 AM. And we might even end up with TWO inches total for this storm!  Amazing!  I couldn’t imagine it, even as a precipophile with a known bias,  that more than 1.5 inches would fall from this situation (10% chance of more than that I wrote), with a best guess of only about… Continue reading 1.77 inches in Catalina and counting

Yesterday’s drizzle

Some rare drizzle precip1 fell yesterday.  Suggests clouds were pretty “clean”, that is,  didn’t have much aerosol loading and the concentrations of droplets in them was low (likely less than 100 cm-3) Also likely, in view of the recent strong winds, some of the aerosols in those clouds might have been large dust particles2 rather… Continue reading Yesterday’s drizzle

One of the greatest Seattle days in the history of Catalina, Arizona

Yesterday, that is.  It felt like I never left.  Only 49 F here; was 55 F in Seattle yesterday. But the main thing that made it seem “so Seattle” was the persistent low Stratocumulus overcast, almost no sun whatsoever, and a little rain.  We picked up another 0.03 inches in a couple of morning episodes… Continue reading One of the greatest Seattle days in the history of Catalina, Arizona