As readers know, we like to jump out ahead, sometimes exceeding professional standards: “Right or wrong, you heard it here first!” The totality of evidence, which isn’t all that strong is in our beloved spaghetti plots, ones that have misled us a coupla times this winter… The End.
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.
Frosty the Cumulus cloud
No NWS sounding from the U of AZ Weather Department yesterday afternoon, so’s we can’t really tell with solid data what the temperatures of yesterday’s frosty clouds were. However, with a max here in the Heights of Sutherland of 71°F, and with a dry adiabatic lapse rate to the bottoms of the clouds (as is… Continue reading Frosty the Cumulus cloud
Drizzle and Stratocumulus bonanza
No, this is not about Bonanza, the TEEVEE show, “Hoss”, or any of those ranching people, though that might be more interesting than a blog about clouds, gray ones. First of all, the word, “bonanza” would be capitalized (its not on my view of this edit, FYI) if this was a blog about it. Second,… Continue reading Drizzle and Stratocumulus bonanza
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
The Greening
Its not a review of a new Stephen King movie where people turn green after eating too many vegetables. Its a status report on growing grass as of yesterday from a hike. Got pretty excited yesterday watching grass grow. Below, some exciting examples of growing grass, mostly from the flats around the Canada del Oro… Continue reading The Greening
Morning smog attack
One branch of a seemingly bifurcated plume, spread north along the side of Samaniego Ridge. The other branch appeared to moved out of Tucson to Continental Ranch, “thence” northward toward the east side of the Tortolita Mountains. It’s happened before, but is pretty rare, maybe once a year occurrence. (Took an hour for these first… Continue reading Morning smog attack
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
Rain train keeps on chuggin’ over Catalina
Toot, toot, drip, drip. Rain fell on Catalina, Arizona, for the third day in a row, bringing our three day total, at least in Sutherland Heights, Catalina, to 2.18 inches, and over NINE inches at Ms. Mt. Lemmon, subject to quality control later. Here’s a nice map, courtesy of the Pima County ALERT network, whom… Continue reading Rain train keeps on chuggin’ over Catalina
Rain drenches Catalina! Mt Lemmon passes four inches!
Sutherland Heights total as of 5:34 AM (tipping bucket): 0.90 inches! No way was this much expected from this keyboard. Looks like the rain is going to continue for a few more hours, too. Just terrific! Update: 1.21 inches in CoCoRahs gauge at 7 AM! As of 4:34 AM, these totals from the Pima County… Continue reading Rain drenches Catalina! Mt Lemmon passes four inches!