Sunrise and Cirrus splendor; the rarely seen Cirrus castellanus floats by

Gee, three days with a cloud or two over droughty Catalina!   Yay! Here’s yesterday morning’s nice Cirrus uncinus (icy clouds with long trails). Then, later that morning, the RARELY seen Cirrus castellanus sporting some mammatus (downward protuberances at the bottom) showed up.  (I should note that some of the female atmos sci students at… Continue reading Sunrise and Cirrus splendor; the rarely seen Cirrus castellanus floats by

Clouds to the north, clouds to the south, but not one in visual range from Cat land

Yesterday around this time I asserted that there would be some Cirrus and maybe some Altocumulus clouds for great sunset/sunrise photos last evening and this morning.  In fact, there wasn’t and isn’t as I write, enough humidity at Cirrus levels for even obnoxious contrails!  Bad forecast! Here’s what  Cirrus clouds looks like, in case you’ve… Continue reading Clouds to the north, clouds to the south, but not one in visual range from Cat land

Sunrise and sunset heaven: Cirrus and maybe Altocumulus on the way

Yep, a cute tiny little upper air low with just a dollop of high clouds is going to be spit out of the eastern Pacific off Baja Cal today and tomorrow and toward AZ, and along with that will come some Cirrus and probably Altocumulus floccus and castellanus clouds, maybe with virga.  The first Cirrus… Continue reading Sunrise and sunset heaven: Cirrus and maybe Altocumulus on the way

Cirrus uncinus display; the tops of storms made visible

First, some instructional material:  You should be looking for your camera now, as seen in the first shot! Those Cirrus clouds to the SW are moving at you rapidly (95 kts, 115 mph at 30-35 Kft ASL!), and so there’s not much time!  In this first shot you can already detect some Cirrus uncinus, Cirrus… Continue reading Cirrus uncinus display; the tops of storms made visible

Virga anyone?

Mr. Cloudmaven person foretold certain cloud types would occur yesterday in conjunction with “storm” 3 yesterday (which was really only the passage of an upper level trough over us–see map for 5PM yesterday).  Let’s see how he did, that is, whether he is an actual “cloudmaven”: (0=not observed, 1 observed, -1, cloud observed, not predicted:… Continue reading Virga anyone?

Trick and treat sunset yesterday evening

Late yesterday afternoon, the sun appeared to be setting in the wrong location, about 20-25 degrees south of where it is supposed to be at this time of year.  Perhaps something horrible had happened, I thought.  Retirement with a happy ending here in Arizona was too good to be true, I thought, and now it… Continue reading Trick and treat sunset yesterday evening