A day dominated by cold Altocumulus punctuated by aircraft-produced hole punches and ice canals

Hope you saw them and recorded them in your cloud and weather diary.  I’m thinking that at the next Cloud Maven Junior meeting we should devote a lot of time to this issue.  It was a rare day yesterday that the WHOLE day had that phenomenon occurring as aircraft penetrated those clouds, usually on ascent… Continue reading A day dominated by cold Altocumulus punctuated by aircraft-produced hole punches and ice canals

A stragne and wonderful day

Many strange1  and wonderful sights were seen yesterday; I could feel the excitement out there as one cloud  microstructural mystery after another regaled our Catalina skies. How cold are these clouds?  Lets look at the TUS sounding, launched at about 3:30 AM yesterday morning. That bank of Altocumulus was racing at more than 50 mph… Continue reading A stragne and wonderful day

Ice optics extravaganza; Cirrus uncinus fallstreifen going in different directions!

What a day, Mr. and Mrs. Catalina! Not as good as a rain day with lightning, but yesterday did have its moments in the sky, enough to make the astrologers  on Mt. Lemmon jealous with displays of parhelia (“sun dogs”, or “mock suns”), faint haloes, a rare parhelic circle, something you don’t see but once… Continue reading Ice optics extravaganza; Cirrus uncinus fallstreifen going in different directions!

Cirrus enigma; medium-sized Cumulus clouds snow away

First, you should always begin your day, not with the breakfast of champions, but by reviewing the prior day’s clouds in the University of Arizona time lapse movie.    Here’s what you will see: Lots of Cirrus, varies species, Altocumulus, Cirrocumulus, a high temperature contrail go through some Cirrocumulus just after 4 PM, and flocks of… Continue reading Cirrus enigma; medium-sized Cumulus clouds snow away

Another fireball over Tucson! Backwards halo seen, too! Rain on tap

Check these out in yesterday’s “Olympics of optics” where all kinds of goofy optical things were seen:                                          Today’s clouds Thickening and lowering, ho hum, the usual as a trough aloft (bend in the jet stream… Continue reading Another fireball over Tucson! Backwards halo seen, too! Rain on tap

Last chance for August rain?

An unusually strong “trough” (a bend in the winds that points to the Equator) aloft will be moving across our region today, and as it does, it will be clustering storms, much like they were bunched together two days ago.   Remember that those bunched thunderheads came through in a band about mid-day.  Something similar… Continue reading Last chance for August rain?

Interesting optics yesterday; substantial rains just ahead

Pretty boring lately….  No motivation here, even after caffeinating royally every morning.  Have had some pro work to work on, too, like reviewing a manuscript for a journal–loosely translated, work that’s largely comprised of  “finding fault in the work of others,” which I am pretty good at, to be a little immodest.  Due this weekend,… Continue reading Interesting optics yesterday; substantial rains just ahead

Dusty parhelia

No, that’s not a baseball player that played for the Dodgers or Giants back in the 1950s, that was Dusty Roads; though Dusty Parhelia would be a nice name for a baseball player.  Yesterday, with our slightly dusty skies, and on the 22 degree halo ring, and horizontally from the sun’s position, was a couple… Continue reading Dusty parhelia

Trick and treat sunset yesterday evening

Late yesterday afternoon, the sun appeared to be setting in the wrong location, about 20-25 degrees south of where it is supposed to be at this time of year.  Perhaps something horrible had happened, I thought.  Retirement with a happy ending here in Arizona was too good to be true, I thought, and now it… Continue reading Trick and treat sunset yesterday evening