Category: Contrails

Cirrus uncinus scenes for a lifetime, well, mine, anyway

I hope you had a chance to venture out late yesterday morning and see some of the most spectacular Cirrus (uncinus) displays with HUGE streamers that you will ever see. The early Cirrus cloud were nothing very special, not showing clues about what was to happen a few hours later: But by mid-morning, racing in… Continue reading Cirrus uncinus scenes for a lifetime, well, mine, anyway

Strange sunset brew of clouds and color; but was it natural?

Cutting to the chase:  I don’t think so. Yesterday,  after an ordinary beginning,,  finished in a spectacular, if likely artificial way.  Let us work our way through yesterday’s cloudulations:   Later that morning….. But let’s go zooming up to flight level and take a closer look for a second: Now, where was I?  Got mammatus… Continue reading Strange sunset brew of clouds and color; but was it natural?

Ice optics extravaganza; Cirrus uncinus fallstreifen going in different directions!

What a day, Mr. and Mrs. Catalina! Not as good as a rain day with lightning, but yesterday did have its moments in the sky, enough to make the astrologers  on Mt. Lemmon jealous with displays of parhelia (“sun dogs”, or “mock suns”), faint haloes, a rare parhelic circle, something you don’t see but once… Continue reading Ice optics extravaganza; Cirrus uncinus fallstreifen going in different directions!

100-150 mph winds overhead bring pretty patterns in Cirrocumulus clouds; also, an experiment in detecting the phase of clouds

If you thought those high clouds were moving faster than usual, you were right.  The winds were about 120 mph at that level, about 28,000 feet above sea level, and just over 150 mph a few thousand feet above that level. You may have noticed two things, if you are good, that there were repeated… Continue reading 100-150 mph winds overhead bring pretty patterns in Cirrocumulus clouds; also, an experiment in detecting the phase of clouds

Three storms in the model “fountain”; which one will the model keep?

Who can forget the Four Aces? Well, fountains spray water, and storms spray water (and snow) on the ground, so quite an unexpected confluence in descriptions, comparing fountains and storms. That’s right, three storms are shown in the model run from last night.  They been kind of coming and going, the model generally clueless about… Continue reading Three storms in the model “fountain”; which one will the model keep?

Spaghetti is back!

Due to some kind of server meltdown, the NOAA spaghetti plots, better,  “Lorenz plots” in honor of “Dr. Chaos”,  Edward N. Lorenz,  the ones my fans1 like so much,  have not been available. But they’re back today! But what are they telling us?  Gander this for Christmas Day: Don’t need to tell you that the… Continue reading Spaghetti is back!

Arizona, center of northern hemisphere uncertainty; weird clouds today?

Here’s a nice little example of how the weather computing models start to go awry fast when a little flummoxed when little DELIBERATE errors are input into them as they start their northern hemisphere data crunch (below, from the global data ingested at 5 PM AST yesterday).  Us folks here in Arizona and those in… Continue reading Arizona, center of northern hemisphere uncertainty; weird clouds today?

Cirrus, old and young

Our deep blue sky, loaded with interesting Cirrus clouds yesterday, and generally low in contrail impact, makes southeast Arizona a haven for Cirrus cloud watchers.  Though no one site is completely immune from them, a sky like this, so free of contrails, is impossible on most of the Atlantic Seaboard due to air traffic.  It… Continue reading Cirrus, old and young

Cold one on tap for Catalina; tubes in Cal

First, this is not about BEER! Usually when you get carried away and expect something unusual to happen, it doesn’t, like that girl I thought liked me but didn’t (there have been a number of those…)  Yesterday, carried-away Mr. Cloud Maven person mentioned the possibility of tubes in Cal.  Here’s the report in the Big… Continue reading Cold one on tap for Catalina; tubes in Cal