Gritting it out

This message with these astounding reports was passed along the evening before the dust hit Catalina by Mark Albright of the U of WA.  I didn’t see it until yesterday morning.  In fact, Mr. Cloud Maven person did not see the dust coming yesterday, was asleep at the wheel doing a professional task1.

Still, these reports passed along by buddy Mark seem remarkable enough to pass along to my two readers:

“Last evening (May 10th–we’re behind real events here) the Bicycle Lake ASOS (KBYS) northeast of Barstow CA (35 16 49.909, -116 37 48.106) reported a wind speed of 108 knots (124 mph) behind the cold front which passed in the late afternoon.  At the same time east of Barstow,  CA along I-40 a major dust storm related accident closed the roadway for many hours.

Stn: BICYCLE LAKE U S ARMY AIRFIELD CA
Lat: 35.2833   Lon: -116.6167   Elev: 716 m / 2349 ft

Raw weather gibberish below for weather technicians:
DY STA   TP HHMM N CIG VSBY    WEA   SLP    T  TD DIR SP GS PK  ALT  TEND 1H 3H6H 24H SNW Tmx Tmn COMMENT
10 KBYS  SA 2355 0>120    8        1000.6  74  20 230 32 46    29.62 6 36  0   0           80  71 AO2 402650148
11 KBYS  SA 0055 6  20    3      H  999.7  72  20 270 24 40 45 29.59       0                      AO2 PK WND 23045/0002
11 KBYS  SA 0155 3>120    3      H  997.0  67  21 270 46 69 78 29.50       0                      AO2 260V320  PK WND 29078/0106
11 KBYS  SA 0255 3>120    2      H  997.8  63  22 270 49106    29.51 5 32  0   0                  AO2 250V310
11 KBYS  SP 0306 1>120    2      H  997.3  63  23 270 58108    29.51       0                      AO2 250V320
11 KBYS  SA 0355 0>120    3         999.1  63  19 270 48    84 29.56       0                      AO2 250V320  PK WND 31084/0343
11 KBYS  SA 0455 0>120   10        1004.3  63  21 290 31 45 59 29.72       0                      AO2 PK WND 28059/0406
11 KBYS  SA 0555 6  36    3      H 1006.1  62  20 320 24 30 33 29.78 3 84  0   0           74  62 AO2 PK WND 29033/0456

Mostly ordinary speak below here, giving some more details-reservations on the gibberish above:

0730 PM     NON-TSTM WND GST 4 ENE FORT IRWIN        35.28N 116.62W
05/10/2014  E98.00 MPH       SAN BERNARDINO     CA   ASOS

ASOS REPORTED GUSTS UP TO 124 MPH WHICH WERE NOT
REPRESENTATIVE. CALLED THE MILITARY BASE AND THEY
REPORTED THAT SUPPLEMENTAL SENSORS IN THE AREA WERE
REPORTING 92 TO 104 MPH. THE ESTIMATED REPORT IS THE
AVERAGE OF THESE SENSORS. HIGH WINDS OCCURRED FROM 604 PM
TO 906 PM.

0733 PM     DUST STORM       11 S MANIX (UP240)      34.81N 116.59W
05/10/2014                   SAN BERNARDINO     CA   LAW ENFORCEMENT

*** 2 INJ *** DUST STORM CONDITIONS CONTRIBUTED TO A
PILEUP ON INTERSTATE 40 INVOLVING APPROXIMATELY 10 BIG
RIGS. THE HIGHWAY WAS STILL CLOSED AS OF MIDNIGHT. THERE
WERE AT LEAST TWO REPORTED INJURIES.
——————————-

Here’s a nice satellite view from the University of Washington Huskies Weather Department of our incoming dust from Barstow, CA, yesterday morning:

Dust up as it approached Catalina at 7:40 AM AST yesterday morning.
Dust up as it approached Catalina at 7:40 AM AST yesterday morning.
DSC_0188
11:35 AM. Pretty much the high point of dust invasion, looking toward the Catalinas. Took a lot of photos yesterday, and this was the densest one to me, and that was the one I wanted you to see. Also, see view toward Oro Valley in the next shot.

 

DSC_0183
11:37 AM. View toward Oro Valley from Sutherland Heights in the heart of the dust episode.

Wonder if any joshua trees will be coming up now in our desert with all the Mohave Desert soil, maybe some Palm Springs sand, here now?   Kind of neat when you think about that possibility, joshua trees mixing it up with the yuccas and saguaros we have.  Maybe a few extra poppy seeds from the National Poppy Preserve there, too.  Now all we need is some rain…

Rain?  Let us dream about May 1992 for a moment, a year with an El Nino in formation, as we have now.Look at the rainfall of May 1992; nothing like it before or since:   1992 May AZ NOAA climo data  

What an amazing month May 1992 was!  Almost seven inches of rain at Alpine!  About 15 days with measurable rain around the State; looks more like July.

Is there a big El Nino taking shape?  Well, let’s look at global SSTs.  As you can see the New Nino (“Region 3.4“) and the Classic Nino (off Peru) regions are both warmer than normal!  Also notice that the whole eastern Pac is warmer than normal.   Hmmmm.  Not sure what that will do, if it hangs on.

As of May 8th. Notice all the orange and red along the Equator beginning on the west coast of South America. Very excellent development.
As of May 8th. Notice all the yellow and orange along the Equator beginning on the west coast of South America indicating above normal ocean surface temperatures. You’re probably as excited as I am looking at this!  However, El Ninos don’t seem to affect summer precip too much, just winter and especially later winter into spring.   However,  an El Nino will aid in the maintenance of any tropical storms that heads toward us later in the summer and fall.  They’ll tend to stay together longer because the ocean is a little warmer.  So, the chances of a rogue tropical storm rain in the early fall are enhanced.

Nothing in sight as far as rain goes, but one on the pleasant temperature side, due to the nesting of weak troughs here over the next couple of weeks; heat extrema will be pretty short-lived. Looks like not-a-bad May overall. Now, if we can just grab some tropical air in one of those troughs, could be a great May!

The End.

——————–

1It will seem quite remarkable to those who visit this site that Mr. Cloud Maven Person is still deemed viable as a reviewer of manuscripts submitted to scientific journals, such as the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, published by the American Meteorological Society.  Have a deadline for submitting this review coming up and I wanted to make sure I found a lot of things wrong with this manuscript, the sign of a good review!

By Art Rangno

Retiree from a group specializing in airborne measurements of clouds and aerosols at the University of Washington (Cloud and Aerosol Research Group). The projects in which I participated were in many countries; from the Arctic to Brazil, from the Marshall Islands to South Africa.