Category: Sunsets

Calming Cirrus

Feeling better now after some calming Cirrus uncinus and spissatus moved in yesterday.  Wasn’t sure we could have clouds anymore here above Catalina, AZ.  Really, there’s nothing like some uncinus and spissatus to make you feel better after  you get worked up over some global cooling stuff you thought was wrong.  And that nice sunset… Continue reading Calming Cirrus

Sunrise and Cirrus splendor; the rarely seen Cirrus castellanus floats by

Gee, three days with a cloud or two over droughty Catalina!   Yay! Here’s yesterday morning’s nice Cirrus uncinus (icy clouds with long trails). Then, later that morning, the RARELY seen Cirrus castellanus sporting some mammatus (downward protuberances at the bottom) showed up.  (I should note that some of the female atmos sci students at… Continue reading Sunrise and Cirrus splendor; the rarely seen Cirrus castellanus floats by

Sunrise and sunset heaven: Cirrus and maybe Altocumulus on the way

Yep, a cute tiny little upper air low with just a dollop of high clouds is going to be spit out of the eastern Pacific off Baja Cal today and tomorrow and toward AZ, and along with that will come some Cirrus and probably Altocumulus floccus and castellanus clouds, maybe with virga.  The first Cirrus… Continue reading Sunrise and sunset heaven: Cirrus and maybe Altocumulus on the way

The Twelve…rain drops in Catalina, that is

Well, maybe there were about 27, but anyway….not very many; still,  those drops were to be treasured after not seeing a single  “hydrometeor” display in SE AZ in so–ooooo LONG A TIME! ———————————- PG-13 advisory; DRIZZLE is discussed I have to warn you at this point.  That rain event yesterday WAS NOT DRIZZLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I will… Continue reading The Twelve…rain drops in Catalina, that is

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)

“Little snowstorms in the sky, I think I’d like to have some pie”

You’re probably smiling now remember singing this little ditty as a kid, maybe singing it with your friends on the bus, whenever you saw “Altocumulus floccus virgae” clouds such as are pictured in the first photo.   Wasn’t it great when you saw these kinds of clouds while on a vacation trip and mom and… Continue reading “Little snowstorms in the sky, I think I’d like to have some pie”

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