Goodbye summer storms; new book out about clouds!

First, I will shamelessly plug a book on clouds, “A Sideways Look at Clouds”,  by a well-published and acclaimed author friend, Maria Mudd Ruth.   Its about her odyssey into them,  mentally and physically,  after she realized they were something she really had not paid much attention to before mid-life,  then she had to know EVERYTHING about them!  Its a great read, infused here and there with humorous anecdotes.

You can sample the contents here.

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Now, on to Catalina’s  clouds and weather…

Not that there have been that many rainstorms since the end of July.

But it would seem that today marks the meteorological end of the summer rain season as dry westerly winds sweep our remaining tropical air to the east today.  The mods think there is a chance for a couple of high-based thunderstorms in the area around Catalina late in the day.  But bases will be so high that not a lot of rain will reach the ground even if one passes right over us.  And, they’ll be moving in from the SW or W today due to encroaching westerlies.

In a little over a week, too, you’ll be hearing about early snow in the Rockies and West!  We’ll have a day or two of those gusty, dry southwest winds that accompany our winter storms as well.  You’ll get a real feel for the season change then.

Check out this plot from the NOAA spaghetti factory showing (blue lines) that an unusually strong upper trough will absolutely dominate the West in just over a week

 

The End