50 actual shades of gray

Huh,  Sounds familiar.  Well, 50 shades of gray is a theme here at cloud-maven.com.  Those various shades brought 0.02 inches of rain this morning to The Heights.  Here are yesterday’s 50 shades: This Altostratus invasion covered the sky within about 15 minutes, and that was it for sun, except some “filtered sun” at times (when… Continue reading 50 actual shades of gray

More March rain ahead; and not so far ahead

That means that a deep Altostratus overcast will be in place by tomorrow with a load of virga and sprinkles, not really much rain since the bases will also be cold and…high.  Top possible rain amount from these high cold ones is a tenth of an inch, but more likely will be traces.  Chance of… Continue reading More March rain ahead; and not so far ahead

Cloud advisory

Have cameras ready for interesting clouds today as yet more storms approach.  Winds at 500 mb (around 18,000 feet above sea level) are forecast to approach 100 kts by tonight (oops, TOMORROW NIGHT!  Egad).  With winds like that, likely will be some nice lenticulars around to add to your collection.  Oh, I already see one… Continue reading Cloud advisory

Our last hope for rain in early Feb; a thin blue line (a 552 decameter one)

Blue, as in the 5520 meter height contour line as produced by a single run of the many NOAA GFS model re-runs with those little “perturbations” of the starting data.    Below, our only hope for rain here in Catalina is if the model run with a 552 decameter height contour over eastern Pacific across… Continue reading Our last hope for rain in early Feb; a thin blue line (a 552 decameter one)

The top 100 weather blogs; the weather ahead still filled with rainy portent

“Rainy portent”;  is there a better phrase for a desert than that?  I don’t think so.  See mini-discussion below, and below that, some soapboxing!  Very excited today!  Where are my pills? Now, let us discuss the top 100 weather blogs: Bob Maddox‘ superb site,  representing Tucson, makes the list ! This note and info from… Continue reading The top 100 weather blogs; the weather ahead still filled with rainy portent

Cloud patterns excite Catalinans; storms continue to pile up for January

A swatch of Altocumulus perlucidus translucidus (sorry, that’s the way we talk around here) passed over Catalina early yesterday afternoon, each “unit” nearly perfectly evenly spaced with its fellow cloud element creating a brief period of cloud awe for those Catalinans (or is it, “Catalina-ites”?  “Catalinians”?  Who knows, who cares?).  Here it is, in case… Continue reading Cloud patterns excite Catalinans; storms continue to pile up for January

Trace of rain ruffles drought in Catalina! New storm approaches in five days or so followed by a several day dry, warm period followed by more storm threats a few days after that; January beginning to look wetter than December though it wouldn’t take that much rain to exceed Deember’s meager total of just 0.27 inches

Yep, unless you were outside yesterday morning, you probably missed the few drops that fell.   But fall they did, giving us officially a trace of rain for January!  In case you don’t believe me, here is a shot of the incoming shafts of rain.  OK, “veils” of rain. Now, a historical forecasting criteria note… Continue reading Trace of rain ruffles drought in Catalina! New storm approaches in five days or so followed by a several day dry, warm period followed by more storm threats a few days after that; January beginning to look wetter than December though it wouldn’t take that much rain to exceed Deember’s meager total of just 0.27 inches

Sprinkly clouds passed over during night; check dusty cars for drop craters and evidence of a trace of rain

Honestly, I gave up on the chance of rain overnight into this morning at sunset yesterday due to the absolutely clear skies.   And, like you, woke up to not one cloud within a 100 miles!  How could this be, given the synoptic situation?  Started slicing apples for some humble pie, but then, when looking… Continue reading Sprinkly clouds passed over during night; check dusty cars for drop craters and evidence of a trace of rain

Sunset was pretty good; raindrops tomorrow morning? In nine days as well?

Haven’t had much to say, brain pretty empty again after the big review of the NAS 2003 review which really needed reviewing and commenting on real bad…. (More “late homework” in the offing.) ———————- Nice sunset last night; we have had a series of pretty nice ones over the past few days. From IPS MeteoStar,… Continue reading Sunset was pretty good; raindrops tomorrow morning? In nine days as well?