Seattle nostalgia part Got a little homesick yesterday with the weather the way it was here in Catalina. Well, after 32 years in Seattle it seemed like home. The dank, gray, low-hanging, lifeless, overcast skies of Stratus and Stratocumulus clouds hour after hour (spoken with emphasis on each descriptor using a whiney kind of emotional… Continue reading So Seattle
Category: Stratocumulus clouds
Low spin cycle continuing off Baja; water being added
That enfante terrible now dawdles over the coastal waters of California and northern Baja today, adding some water to its central system as seen here from IPS Meteostar. Note, too, a scruff of Stratocumulus clouds racing northwestward in the Gulf of Baja abouit the latitude of the border between north and south Baja. This is… Continue reading Low spin cycle continuing off Baja; water being added
The most interesting clouds–technical discussion ahead; skip now if you have a headache
Well, to me, anyway, those flat, thin ones yesterday (Stratocumulus, and Cumulus fractus, humilis, mediocris, if you want some names). The thicker versions of these clouds were shedding ice and snow but weren’t very cold and that’s what made them interesting. Take a look. If your eye is calibrated you can see that light snow… Continue reading The most interesting clouds–technical discussion ahead; skip now if you have a headache
Cumulus with Stratocumulus; hold the ice
Mr. Cloud-maven person hasn’t said much about clouds lately, which is kind of ironic since he deems himself a “cloud maven” and not much more. Rather, he has been obsessing about POSSIBLE storms in AZ 15 days away which is kind of futile anyway. So, as an excuse to show more cloud photos from that… Continue reading Cumulus with Stratocumulus; hold the ice
“Oh so pretty….”
You know the rest of the words to this song, the punch line, “…pretty ugly.” Yes, who can forget Johnny Rotten….? Gorgeous clouds yesterday, but no rain is going to follow them (the “ugly” part)! I had really hoped for a splotch of glaciating Stratocumulus clouds this morning after the great display of….the tongue twister,… Continue reading “Oh so pretty….”
Exit right (or to the east)
Here’s what happened on top of us yesterday, that gorgeous snow day with so many wonderful sights to see. These maps below, courtesy of San Francisco State University , for 500 millibar pressure level, about 18,000 feet above sea level, for 5 AM LST as the snow band moved through Catalina, and then 5PM LST, a… Continue reading Exit right (or to the east)
Virga anyone?
Mr. Cloudmaven person foretold certain cloud types would occur yesterday in conjunction with “storm” 3 yesterday (which was really only the passage of an upper level trough over us–see map for 5PM yesterday). Let’s see how he did, that is, whether he is an actual “cloudmaven”: (0=not observed, 1 observed, -1, cloud observed, not predicted:… Continue reading Virga anyone?
0.07 inches
It was beginning to seem like measurable rain could not fall again here! But then those Stratocumulus clouds because closing in in the afternoon, then soon after that some snow virga began to trail down from them here and there, and the next thing, large regions of the sky were suddenly shedding virga and rain… Continue reading 0.07 inches
Moist but mostly dry
Though HUGELY disappointing because only a trace of rain fell here as of 7 AM this morning, and only a little in the Canada del Oro wash watershed (amounts here), nevertheless, what a nice, classic passage of a cold front. A cold front, as it sounds, marks the advancing boundary of colder air that is displacing… Continue reading Moist but mostly dry
First “storm” in the series, a trace of rain!
While taking the dogs out for their daily jaunt over the equestrian trails hereabouts yesterday morning, I was fortunate enough to experience several tiny drops of rain at 7:10 AM. Rubbed a couple off the dusty car windows to be sure it was happening, it was THAT slight! It lasted for maybe 15 minutes.… Continue reading First “storm” in the series, a trace of rain!