While taking the dogs out for their daily jaunt over the equestrian trails hereabouts yesterday morning, I was fortunate enough to experience several tiny drops of rain at 7:10 AM. Rubbed a couple off the dusty car windows to be sure it was happening, it was THAT slight! It lasted for maybe 15 minutes.… Continue reading First “storm” in the series, a trace of rain!
Author: 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.
Models wetting it up for Catalina and SE Arizona
This is one of the best days in my life! The NOAA NCEP computer model has looked at the new data that came in overnight from around the world and now, in calculating the new maps from that data, it thinks we are going to have quite the series of storms here in SE AZ!… Continue reading Models wetting it up for Catalina and SE Arizona
Distracted jet pilots or WHAT?
Now here’s something I have NOT seen before, which is pretty hard to have happen after decades of photographing the sky. Here’s what I saw around 1:30 PM yesterday over Catalina. I took three photos starting at 1:27 PM, 1:31 PM and 1:37 PM. Here they are: So, how to explain this odd “stitched”… Continue reading Distracted jet pilots or WHAT?
More about holes-in-clouds while we’re waiting for the AZ rain in a few days
There have been a coupla comments on that aircraft effect in clouds blog of a coupla weeks ago and so I thought I would follow up with this sequence from the Atmos Sci Building rooftop at the University of Washington where I spent most of my time instead of at my desk.1 Here is a… Continue reading More about holes-in-clouds while we’re waiting for the AZ rain in a few days
Rain on model horizon. Yay, possibly, for spring wildflowers.
Thinking about wildflowers today, and prospects for a good bloom hereabouts are dimming. But, rain is now showing up on the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) GFS models on Thursday, Sunday, and again after the following Wednesday (can be seen here). I am so excited! Maybe this time these model depictions of rain in… Continue reading Rain on model horizon. Yay, possibly, for spring wildflowers.
Was it smog or dust? How to tell
OK, climbing down off soapbox today….just don’t read the Hockey Stick Illusion by A. W. Montford unless you want to be upset by some climate scientists pretending to be scientists when they are being something antithetical to science. Reminds me of the 30-odd years of cloud seeding reanalysis experiences I had as a skeptic in… Continue reading Was it smog or dust? How to tell
Weathering extremes: what goes around comes around
Some brutal storms over the past year or so, such as the recent one that dropped 1-2 feet of snow from Tulsa to Chicago and beyond with sometimes hurricane force winds, have been labeled with all sorts of monikers, “Frankenstorm”, “snowmageddon”, etc., to emphasize how bad, and perhaps, how unique they were. Some incautious observers have… Continue reading Weathering extremes: what goes around comes around
24 h of temperature infamy, Catalina, AZ
What an awful past 24 h here in “Catland”! We’ve not only had low, perhaps, unprecedented low temperatures for a day with full sun, but also a noxious 15-30 mph north wind. (Why didn’t we retire to Kauai where we would never be this cold????!!! Just kidding, sort of.) In some quarters(such as in a… Continue reading 24 h of temperature infamy, Catalina, AZ
All’s well that ends well
What a nice day yesterday was, ending with this fabulous, but run-of-the mill sunsets we get to see here in the Catalina area on a regular basis. Yesterday was interesting because we had two graupel (soft hail) showers, the first about noon, and the second with a blast of thunder (1) at 1605 PM. … Continue reading All’s well that ends well
Snowball Earth? Well, maybe a Snowball Tucson on the doorstep!
The computer models are diverging significantly on the “tail of the scorpion” on this incoming front and the two troughs that pass over us in the next few days. First, a Pacific front blows through on Monday with its upper air accompaniment racing to the northeast. But then this monumentally strong wave disturbance barges in… Continue reading Snowball Earth? Well, maybe a Snowball Tucson on the doorstep!