Cumulonimbus clouds, Cumulus clouds, Definitions, Drought status, Mt. Sara Lemmon, Rain data

A little rain overnight! 0.09 inches!

Let us first begin first by NOT exulting too much over our own rain, but let us revel in that rain that has fallen in the Plains.  New Mexico, too.  From WSI Intellicast this beauty for the past 7 days:

A radar-derived sum of the rain that has fallen in the past seven days over the USA. Please observe the orangy areas in Kansas, indicating 8-12 inches!
A radar-derived sum of the rain that has fallen in the past seven days over the USA. Please observe the yellowish and orangy areas in Kansas, indicating  that between 8-16 inches has fallen!  Oh, my.  Let us remember, too, that July and August are supposed to be relatively dry months in these areas; the wetter times in May and June.

Below is our national drought status at the onset of the week above (for July 30, 2013), and indicates why so many of us should be thankful for this past weather week:

The national picture of drought as of July 30, 2013.
The national picture of drought as of July 30, 2013.  It will be updated later today.

 

Here are some area-wide 24 h totals, ending now,  from the Pima County Alert system.

Yesterday’s clouds

Well, they didn’t get so big, so soon over the Lemmon, as foretold by one model referred to yesterday, but there was something later in the afternoon near the top of Lemmon. Can you detect whether that the turret shown below is mostly “glaciated” or not? You know, that’s why I do this, to learn you up on clouds and when they got ice and therefore are precipitating out the bottom even though here you can’t see the bottom. It all for YOU. Its no problem for me, of course.

4:27 PM. A Cumulus turret has protruded above the others behind Ms. Lemmon. If it glaciated, it might be better be termed the head of a Cumulonimbus calvus ("bald") and would have rain underneath it.
5:04 PM. A Cumulus turret has protruded above the others behind Ms. Lemmon. If it’s glaciated, it might be better be termed the head of a Cumulonimbus calvus (“bald”) and would have rain underneath it.  What do you think?  Only the C-M knows for sure.  Sounds like something from a radio program I’ve heard somewhere.  But, you should try anyway.  Answer at the bottom if I remember to put it there.
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6:31 PM, Swan and Trotter, with metaphorical “Dead End” road sign, lower right.
While to the uninitiated this Cumulonimbus capillatus anvil may have appeared to be heralding a storm, overspreading the Catalina sky the way it was, the lack of cumuliform portions, the fraying edges, not hard ones, indicated it was in its dying phase.  Photo of anvil with metaphorical sign; yours for $2,000 (more than usual because some mental effort was expended).  Now that I am thinking about money, I think I will demand a million dollars to continue blogging, and see what happens.

 

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2:47 PM. RIght here you knew that the model run that had an echo by 3 PM on Ms. Lemmon was going to be off as we see but a Cumulus mediocris forming after the usual mid-day clearing.

 

Nice sunrise this morning….

5:48 AM today. Sunrise over the Charoleau Gap.
5:48 AM today. Sunrise over the Charoleau Gap.  Mulitple layers of Altocumulus, some fine virga.

 

Another morning of remnant rains moving through right now, rather than the full blast. As usual, these clouds and rain showers are likely to be dissipating in the later morning before doing much.

Looks like one last day of possible big showers here….check this out from the U of AZ, 11 PM run (WRF-GFS mod)..  Lets hope so, cuz its gonna be dry after this for a few days.

The End.