Review and Enhancement of Chapter 7 of AMS Monograph 58 on 2ndary ice

“Secondary Ice Production:  Current State of the Science and Future Recommendations”

by P. R. Field,a,b
R. P. Lawson,c P. R. A. Brown,a G. Lloyd,d C. Westbrook,e D. Moiseev,f
A. Miltenberger,b A. Nenes,g A. Blyth,b T. Choularton,d P. Connolly,d J. Buehl,h J. Crossier,d
Z. Cui,b C. Dearden,d P. DeMott,i A. Flossman,j A. Heymsfield,k Y. Huang,b H. Kalesse,h
Z. A. Kanji,l A. Korolev,m A. Kirchgaessner,n S. Lasher-Trapp,o T. Leisner, G. McFarquhar,o V. Phillips, p
J. Stith,q and A. Sullivan. l

Note to reader: the many superscripts refer to the institutions that the 29 authors belong to. They are not reported in this review.

The entire unadulterated article with its many illustrious co-authors can be found here:

https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/amsm/58/1/amsmonographs-d-16-0014.1.xml

REVIEWER COMMENT on my submission:

“Reviewer #1: I believe the comments made by Art Rangno up through his section 3 should be included as an Appendix to the Monograph as he adds a number of points and references not included in the original monograph that may be of interest to future monograph readers.  I felt that the authors of the monograph adequately responded to the comments made by Art through his section 3.  However, the monograph authors have completely ignored as far as I can tell Rangno’s more specific comments in section 4 of his review.  I would like to see the Monograph authors address these more specific comments in the main body of the Monograph text and would like a response to each comment as in a normal journal paper response to reviewers comments.”
———-
There were no other reviewers. (AR)

Reviewed by (Mr.) Arthur L. Rangno[1]
Retiree, Staff Research Scientist III,
Cloud and Aerosol Group, Atmos. Sci. Dept.,
University of Washington, Seattle.
Currently: Catalina, Arizona 85739

The many authors’ polite response to my novella-sized review is found below. They were very nice considering I was not in a good mood when I reviewed their chapter. Since some of the senior authors of Chapter 7 are friends, I am placing their response before the review and “enhancement” of Chapter 7, American Meteorological Society Monograph 58, that I submitted here:

 

There are two minor editions additions to my review that have been added concerning a research flight by the Cloud and Aerosol Group that adds more information to the problem of “secondary ice” and a further reference to drop freezing experiments by Duncan Blanchard (1957).

About the journal “Reply” to the
“Review and Enhancement” by the 29 authors of Chapter 7

Monograph Editor, G. McFarquhar, had this to say to me and the 29 co-authors of that chapter about my submission:

All:

First, I would like to give some information on the comment/reply process from my perspective as Chief Editor of the AMS Monographs.  It is true that there has never been a comment/reply published on an AMS Monograph article before.“  

Editor McFarquhar went on to mention the “strange” organization of my “review and enhancement.”  (Hah. Hardly surprising).

So, I inadvertently broke some ground in submitting a “review of a review.”  Why I was overlooked as a reviewer of this chapter is still perplexing. The most gratifying thing about this submission was that one of the 29 co-authors of Chapter 7 wrote and said, “I knew it was you who did the heavy lifting for Peter Hobbs.”  Indeed, and was the case for the other outstanding researchers that passed through his group.  But perhaps because it was in doubt that I could contribute, as a mere staff member in Peter’s group, was the reason why I was not asked to review Chapter 7 before it was published.   I coulda helped.

I have attached the current “status quo” situation, if interested in the topic of secondary ice formation in clouds. You will see in my review that the original Chapter 7 had some amusing errors, such as the Beaufort Sea apparently being in the Washington coastal waters.  I think the illustrious co-authors of Chapter 7 were in a hurry…. Also, in a grotesque error, the co-authors referred to me as, “Dr. Rangno,” while my real name is Mr. Art:

=====================================================

Some background on why I decided to review Chapter 7

I discovered the 2017 American Meteorological Society Monograph Number 58 and its Chapter 7 in early 2018.  I had worked on the problem of secondary ice in clouds discussed in this volume for more than 20 years with Professor Peter V. Hobbs, Director of the Cloud and Aerosol Research Group.  I know and consider a number of the senior authors friends.  

Our published work while sampling clouds in different venues and over many years repeatedly concluded that the leading theory to explain “secondary ice” in clouds, came up short.  That mechanism, discovered in careful lab experiments by Hallett and Mossop (1974: Mossop and Hallett 1984),  showed that when graupel (represented by a rod in a cloud chamber) intercepted larger (>23 um diameter) supercooled cloud droplets, some ice splinters were cast off.  However, it was limited to in-cloud conditions when the temperature was between -2.5° and -8°C.  The peak splinter production occurs at a temperature of -4.5°C.  From that peak, the rate of splinter production drops off quickly.

There is no doubt that this process occurs in clouds.  But, is that all there is?

The problem that we encountered was that high ice particle concentrations developed too rapidly in clouds with tops >-10°C to be explained by the Hallett-Mossop riming-splintering mechanism alone,  as it was described in the original lab experiments  and those that followed  (e.g., Mossop 1985).  

We also found high ice particle concentrations in clouds in which the components of this leading theory were not met, or barely so (Rangno and Hobbs 1994).  The discrepancies that we encountered, and those in other publications that reported discrepancies but were not cited in the Chapter 7,  will also be a theme.  It will also give me a chance to present an overview of our extensive findings, especially those that were not cited (Rangno and Hobbs 1991; 1994), and where there were drawbacks in our earlier work on this subject (i.e., Hobbs and Rangno 1985).

Abstract and organization of:

“Review and Enhancement of Chapter 7, AMS Monograph 58

Sections 1-3 below was reviewed and commented by the authors of Chapter 7, but I had not seen those comments as of 19 March 2021. They were not relayed to me by the journal Editor, which is normally done so that errors and misunderstandings in papers can be taken care of behind the scenes before publication. That’s a pretty normal practice, but it hadn’t happened by that date, so read Sections 1-3 with caution since revisions are likely and the authors’ criticisms except as they appeared above.

You can easily skip to the line-by-line critique resembling a “normal” manuscript review that comprise Sections 4 and 5 via “jump” links.

————————————————————————————–The review of Chapter 7 consists of several elements: 1) an introduction section, 2) a review of the Hallett-Mossop process and why it cannot explain, of itself, high ice particle concentrations in Cumulus clouds with slightly supercooled tops; 3) relevant literature that went uncited in Chapter 7 that might have altered, and in some cases, enhanced some of the authors’ conclusions; 4) selected quotes from Chapter 7 followed by my commentary, similar to a formal manuscript review; 5) lesser, picayunish corrections , some involving citation etiquette, all of which should have been caught before Chapter 7 went to press.

Field et al. (2017, hereafter, F2017) have done a remarkable job of summarizing a vast amount of work on the continuing enigma of the origin of ice-in-clouds.  Not surprisingly, considering the abundance of publications in various journals relevant to this mystery, some publications were overlooked that might have helped the reader, and altered some of the conclusions wrought in F2017.  This review is meant to “fill in” those blanks; to be an enhancement of Chapter 7 rather than a series of criticisms.   It is restricted to the cloud microphysical portions of Chapter 7 concerned with ice multiplication in Cumulus clouds, the writer’s specialty.

1. Introduction

The “embarrassment of citation riches” to much of our prior University of Washington work[2], is much appreciated.  Nevertheless, since it is not possible to be cited too many times, only too few, we dredge up even more of our work relevant to the question of secondary ice that went uncited.  The comments contained in this review will range from picayunish errors in F2017 (left until the end) to more significant commentary concerning the workings of the H-M process at the beginning of this review.  This is followed by quotes in F2017 followed by my comments, a style mimicking that of a pre-publication review.

We start with a summary of the Hallett-Mossop riming-splintering process (Hallett and Mossop 1974; Mossop and Hallett 1974, hereafter “H-M”) and why the H-M process cannot, of itself, account for the “rapid” development of ice in clouds that F2017 mentions in their abstract.  In reading Field et al. it was felt that this distinction between clouds that produce ice rapidly and the inability of the H-M process alone to do that in slightly supercooled Cumulus clouds, beginning with primary ice nuclei (IN) was not made clear.

Relevant literature that was not cited or possibly not known about by F2017 is indicated by an “u” after the citation in this review, for “uncited.”   The relevant citations are found at the end of this piece.  (Jump/anchor links will be added when I remember how to do them.)                        ‘

  1. Review of the Hallett-Mossop riming-splintering process

The rapid development of precipitation in Cumulus clouds transitioning to Cumulonimbus clouds, has been noted for many decades via radar (e.g., Battan 1953; Saunders 1965, Zeng et al. 2001) and by aircraft (e.g., Koenig 1963).   A process that can explain such rapid transitions in clouds whose tops reach much above the freezing level must act very quickly (<10min) to enhance concentrations of ice particles in such clouds.  The H-M process is one that is usually cited in conjunction with this rapid formation of ice.  However, of itself, even when the broad droplet spectra is satisfied in a Cumulus turret with a top at -8°C with only primary ice nuclei (IN) as ice initiators, such a cloud can never attain the 10s to 100s of ice particles per liter associated with “ice multiplication”, those in modest Cumulonimbus clouds.   

Why can’t the H-M process alone produce significant ice in Cumulus clouds when its criteria are satisfied? 

The lifetime of Cumulus turrets is too short, <20 min (e.g., Workman and Reynolds 1949u, Braham 1964u, Saunders 1965u). Its too short for several cycles of splinters to develop, those having to reach fast-falling graupel sizes to be significant splinter producers, starting with ice particles from the very few primary ice nuclei (IN) at -8°C.  Even the H-M droplet spectra itself is doomed within a few minutes in the lives of ordinary Cumulus turrets as they fall back and evaporate[3].  Mason’s (1996) calculations, using reasonable assumptions, required 1 h for ice particle concentrations to reach 100 l-1after starting from primary IN, which Mossop noted was untenable for a Cumulus turret.   Chisnell and Latham (1976) understood this: “Firstly there are some reported multiplication rates, 10 in 8 min (Mossop et al. 1970), 500 in 5 ~ min (Koenig 1973-sic), which are inexplicable in terms of a ‘riming only’ model, but which are consistent with a model containing rain drops.”

Absent larger (>30 µm diameter)  droplets and/or precipitation-sized drops (>100 µm diameter), tens of minutes to an hour or more is required to raise ice particle concentrations from from primary IN concentrations to 100 l-1(e.g., Chisnell and Latham 1976, “Model A”, Mossop 1985a,u, Mason 1996), times that are not tenable considering the short lifetimes of Cumulus turrets.

Moreover, air translates through Cumulus clouds analogous to lenticular clouds though at a far slower pace (e.g., Malkus 1952u, Asplinden et al 1978u).  Thus, while a Cumulus cloud can appear to exist for tens of minutes, its individual turrets cannot.   Any splinters that might be formed by a round of very sparse graupel due to primary IN, should an ice crystal have time to become a graupel particle, will go out the side or evaporate as the top declines and evaporates toward the downwind side as illustrated in Byers (1965u, Figure 7.3).  One of the lessons learned in the HIPLEX seeding experiments when dry ice, dropped like graupel into supercooled Cumulus turrets, was that it produced ice crystals that drifted out the side of decaying cloud portions (Cooper and Lawson 1984u).

Mossop (1985a,u) himself had trouble explaining the rapidity of ice development in his own Cumulus clouds in the Australian Pacific.  Using his measured concentrations of frozen drizzle drops as an accelerator of ice formation, Mossop calculated that it would take about 47 minutes to go from initial ice concentrations due to primary IN (0.01 per liter) at -10°C to 100 ice particles per liter. Mossop knew that this amount of time was untenable for a Cumulus turret.  He then reasoned that IN must be about 10 times higher at -10°C to explain that discrepancy, or about 0.1 per liter, to bring the glaciation time he observed down to about 20 minutes (calculating that the concentrations of ice particles increased 10 fold each 10 min beginning with 0.1 IN per liter active at -10°C).   The concentration of IN surmised by Mossop (1985a, u) is now close to that in updated concentrations of IN by DeMott et al. 2010 of about 0.3 per liter active at -10°C[4]

However, IN need to be about 10-100 times higher than Mossop’s estimate of 0.1 per liter to bring down the time of glaciation to that observed in clouds like his own Australian clouds, namely, ones containing copious droplets >30 um diameter and some precipitation-sized drops.  This was demonstrated by Crawford et al. 2012’s case of 100 times the DeMott et al. primary IN with a model cloud top at -10°C, a case study that best mimicked the near-spontaneous glaciation of real clouds having modestly supercooled tops and containing drops >30 µm diameter (often with drizzle or raindrops). 

In sum, if the droplet spectra does not broaden considerably farther so that droplets larger than 30-40 µm in diameter are in plentiful concentrations (past the Hocking and Jonas 1971; Jonas 1972) thresholds for collisions with coalescence to begin,  there will be no “rapid” glaciation in slightly to modestly supercooled clouds that only meet the H-M droplet spectra criteria.  

  1. Discussion of ice multiplication in literature that went uncited by F2017

Our follow up studies of ice development in Cumulus and small Cumulonimbus clouds after HR85 and HR90 went uncited in F2017. Those were Rangno and Hobbs 1991u and 1994u, hereafter RH91u and RH94u.  We offer a brief summary of our findings before moving on to other relevant uncited findings.  We believe that these uncited papers, en toto, cast additional light the nature of the problem posed by ice multiplication.Discussion of RH91u with some background on HR85

In our prior study of ice-in-clouds, HR85, only a 6 s time resolution was available for data during most of the sampling period  (1978-1984). Therefore, we sampled rather wide cloud complexes to get meaningful statistics.   In addition, our 2-DC probe was only operated sporadically, not continuously in cloud.  

In RH91u data resolution was 1 s or less, and there was continuous 2-DC coverage of cloud penetrations.   Moreover, we carried a vertically-pointable (up or down), mm-wavelength radar, perhaps the first cloud research aircraft to do so. 

We often sampled much smaller clouds than in HR85 and we found that maritime, short-lived (<1 km wide) “chimney” Cumulus clouds whose tops fell back into warmer air and evaporated, did not produce much detectableice even if they reached close to -10°C.  This was true even as their wider, nearby brethren with the same cloud top temperature produced “anvils of ice”, replicating the findings in HR85 (see RH91u, Figure 1). The low ice concentrations found in chimney Cumulus clouds could also have been due to not being able to sample very small ice crystals, those below about 100 µm in maximum dimension.  It forced us to reconsider the role of evaporation that we posited was important in the production of ice in HR85.

The finding in RH91u that wider clouds had considerably more ice corroborated Mossop et al.’s 1970 and Schemenauer and Isaac’s (1984u) earlier findings that cloud width had a profound effect on the development of ice in clouds.  These findings implicitly address the importance of the duration of cloud and precipitation-sized drops, if any of the latter, at lower temperatures. 

Of note  is that the maritime Cumulus clouds in Washington State coastal waters during onshore flow are virtually identical to those studied by Mossop and his colleagues in the Australian Pacific in terms of cloud base temperatures, droplet concentrations, ice particle concentrations and in the minimum cloud top temperatures at which most sampling took place  (e.g., Mossop et al 1968u, Mossop and Ono 1969u).   Our studies were, thus, an attempt at replicating the findings of Mossop and his colleagues without going to Australia.  

In RH91u, we found again, as noted in F2017, that Mossop’s (1985a, u) report that ice concentrations required 20 min to rise from 0.1 per liter to 100 per liter, was still too great an amount of time to account for the rapidity of the glaciation that we observed in our Washington clouds.  Lawson et al. (2015) have arrived at a similar conclusion recently though in a different way.

 In RH91u we also compared the explosive formation of ice in our maritime Cumulus to our prior dry ice cloud seeding experiments (Hobbs 1981u) and again in RH94u. The imagery is remarkably similar as a demonstration of the rapidity, the virtually spontaneous formation of ice[5].  We thought that an important comparison.

We also investigated the ocean’s influence on ice formation by sampling small to medium Cumulus clouds that developed out of clear air in an extremely cold[6], offshore flowing air mass over the Washington State coastal waters. Cloud bases were -18°C and cloud tops of the deepest Cumulus, -26°C.   The sea surface was roiled by estimated 25-40 kt winds with widespread whitecaps. Mixing from the sea surface, about 13°C, to cloud bases was extreme, as marked by the heavy turbulence on that flight and vomting.  We sampled those cumuliform clouds as they deepened downwind as far as 100 km offshore that day. 

That day stood out in our studies.  We measured the lowest ice particle concentrations in all our sampling of cumuliform clouds with top temperatures -24°C to -26°C by measuring maximum concentration of only 7 l-1in clouds up to about 1 km in depth.  This day forced us to conclude that the coastal waters of Washington State, anyway, were not a source of high temperature ice nuclei, counter to some more recent work (DeMott et al. 2016).  However, we did not measure concentrations of ice particles that were < 100 µm in maximum dimension.

The droplet spectra in those offshore flowing clouds was narrow, as would be expected with such low base temperatures, and again the idea that droplet sizes control ice formation was once again realized by these low concentrations of ice.

In sum, from our attempts at replicating Mossop’s results in clouds identical to his over many years, we found several departures in ice formation from the operation of the H-M process as it was being described.  These discrepancies are somewhat different than those quoted for our research in F2017, hence we reprise them here: 

The focus of RH94u was to remove the effects of the H-M process by studying ice development continental and semi-continental clouds found mostly east of the Cascade Mountains of Washington State, clouds that did not meet the H-M criteria. We believed that this was an important next step.  The clouds we sampled almost always had base temperatures of 0°C or lower.  Droplet concentrations were semi-continental to “continental” ranging from 300 cm-3to 1500 cm-3, many times higher than droplet concentrations in the Washington coastal waters in onshore flow that averaged but ~50 cm-3.    Thus, the droplet spectra in the eastern Washington and other cold clouds we sampled were considerably narrower than in our coastal clouds, and due to those cold bases, contained few if any drops meeting the large droplet size (>23 µm) in the H-M temperature zone.  We again carried our vertically-pointable, mm-radar to help elucidate cloud structures below or above the aircraft.

Our findings for the eastern Washington State clouds, simply explained, were that the higher the cloud base temperature, the greater the ice at in a Cumulus cloud, holding cloud top temperature constant. Thus, a cloud with a base of -15°C and a top of -20°C had far lessice than a cloud with a base of 0°C and a top at -20°C with no contribution from H-M.  This finding spoke to, as we believed then and continue to believe, the largest droplet sizes of the spectra as being a critical parameter in the production of ice.   We continued to find that a measure of the broadness of the FSSP-100-measured droplet spectrum (our “threshold diameter”, or large end “tail” of the droplet spectrum, e.g., HR85) in newly risen turrets lacking much ice (<1 l-1) continued to be strongly predictive of later maximum ice particle concentrations.

We also found that for very cold based clouds (<-8°C) that Fletcher’s (1962u) summary ice nucleus curve predicted ice concentrations associated with a range of cloud top temperatures extremely well (r=0.89).  This probably indicated that we had little contribution from probe shattering artifacts after accounting for them (see RH91u).   The crystal types in those clouds were almost all delicate stellar and dendritic forms where shattering artifacts would be expected to be rampant[9]

Too, ice formation in the eastern Washington State clouds, as it was in our maritime clouds, was extremely rapid, explosive, in turrets with larger droplets (>~25 µm in diameter) as they reached their peak heights with no contribution from H-M.  As with our maritime clouds, the scenario of a few much larger particles (graupel) appeared to be coincident with wholesale formation of high ice concentrations. 

This did not happen, however, in very cold-based (<-8°C), shallow clouds with small (~<20 µm diameter) droplets and tops down to -27°C where ice appeared to form from a “trickle” process likely due to ambient IN concentrations rather than aided by other factors.  

  • The formation of ice was far more rapid in clouds with tops between -5°C and -12°C than could be accounted for by H-M, requiring <10 min, as judged from the small size of the ice particles in high concentrations, ones that had not yet had time to begin forming aggregates; moreover, they were usually coincident with relatively high LWC that had not had time to be depleted (e.g., HR90, RH91u). Newly risen turrets full of LWC could be seen to transition to an icy, fraying, soft, cotton-candy appearance in less than 10 min.   What cloud observer hasn’t seen this behavior?
  • Our maritime clouds had very low concentrations of small (<13 µm diameter) droplets once appreciably above cloud base and into the H-M temperature zone. Low concentrations of small droplets were once thought to be an impediment to riming and splintering (e.g., Mossop 1978u; Hallett et al. 1980u), though later studies deemed them to have only a “secondary role” (Mossop 1985b).
  • Measured graupel concentrations, despite our “optimizations” (using high concentrations over a few meters rather than turret-averaged) to try to make H-M work in RH91u were still not high enough to account for the high concentrations of ice particles that developed so quickly.
  • Our fast-glaciating, modest Cumulus and Cumulonimbus clouds with tops between -5°C >-12°C did not contain mm-sized raindrops, thought to be critical for rapid glaciation as asserted by F2017. However, copious large droplets (>30 µm diameter) and drizzle-sized drops up to about 500 µm diameter were always found, though the latter in relatively low concentrations[7],[8].  Drop sizes between 30 µm and 60 µm diameter, deemed an important player in ice multiplication by Ono (1972u), were always copious.

 

  • Discussion of Rangno and Hobbs (1994u)

Too, our evaluation of the H-M process could not explain the ice multiplication that occurred in those few eastern Washington clouds that did meet the H-M criteria.  In our calculations we used a “relaxed” FSSP-100 spectra (as lately invoked by Crawford et al. 2012) that resulted in more >23 µm diameter droplets than were actually observed in our calculations to no avail in an attempt to “break” our conclusions (as good scientists do).                 

Two very short but illuminating papers were published in 1998 that discussed two viewpoints concerning the H-M process.  Blyth and Latham (1998u) “Commented” on the University of Washington findings2as completely explicable due to the H-M process, counter to the conclusions stated in our papers in which we felt that H-M might be playing a lesser role.   We defended our findings in our reply (Hobbs and Rangno 1998u)[10]

Following Mossop’s (1978) nomogram for ice development and ice multiplication boundaries given cloud base temperatures[11], we evaluated the onset of ice based on cloud depth and temperature of the onset of ice in Cumulus clouds using cloud base temperatures for continental clouds in Rangno and Hobbs (1988u), updated with many more data points from various locations around the world in Rangno and Hobbs 1995u (Figure 12). These data, for non-severe convection, point to a critical role of droplet sizes as proxied by cloud depth for the onset of ice in clouds (as Ludlam 1952) first noted), and, thus when ice multiplication can be expected.

  • Other uncited findings that impact F2017

Perhaps the most remarkable instance of “secondary” ice formation was left out of the field studies described by F2017:  that of Stith et al 2004u in clean tropical updrafts.  Stith et al. reported tens of thousands per liter of spherical ice particles in tropical updrafts that led to nearly complete glaciation by -12°C and total glaciation by -17°C.   As Stith et al.  pointed out, and was obvious, there is no mechanism presently known that can explain those observations.  The remarkable findings of Stith et al. should have been “front and center” in F2017. (Or, it should have been called out as bogus in a footnote.)

Another finding, one that resembles the findings of Stith et al. 2004u, and is also inexplicable by H-M, is that of Paluch and Breed (1984u).   High ice particle concentrations (100 l-1) formed in a Cumulus cloud updraft at a moderate supercooling.

Other examples of H-M “exceptionalism” that went uncited in F2017: Cooper and Saunders 1980u, Cooper and Vali 1981u, Gayet and Soulage 1982u, Waldvogel et al 1987u.

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  1. A tedious line-by-line critique of F2017, analogous to a pre-publication manuscript review, one that should have taken place before publication.

P7.1:  F2017, their introduction:  “Airborne observations of ice crystal concentrations are often found to exceed the concentration of ice nucleating particles (INPs) by many orders of magnitude (see, e.g., Mossop 1985; Hobbs and Rangno 1985; Beard 1992; Pruppacher and Klett 1997; Hobbs and Rangno 1998; Cantrell and Heymsfield 2005; DeMott et al. 2016). In the 1970s (Mossop et al. 1970; Hallett and Mossop 1974) the discrepancy between expected ice particle concentrations formedthrough primary ice nucleation and observed ice particle concentration motivated the search for mechanisms thatcould amplify primary nucleation pathways.”

Comment:  While it was gratifying to have our work cited in the Introduction of F2017, the observations of unexpectedly high ice particle concentrations at slight supercoolings (>-10°C), goes no farther back than Mossop et al. 1970. One wishes some the earlier workers who reported ice at unexpectedly high cloud top temperatures would have been cited in this first grouping[12], such as Coons and Gunn 1951u; Ludlam 1955u; Murgatroyd and Garrod 1960u; Borovikov et al. 1961u; Koenig 1963; Hobbs 1969u; Auer et al 1969u.

P 7.2, Section 2, F2017:  “The consensus is that H-M occurs within a temperature range of approximately -3°C to -8°C, in the presence of liquid cloud droplets smaller than ~13µm and liquid drops larger than ~25µm in diameter that can freeze when they are collected by large ice particles (rimed aggregates, graupel, or large frozen drops).”

Comment:  It is now believed that the small droplets play a far less important role than once envisioned.  Goldsmith et al. (1976), later confirmed by Mossop (1978) appeared to find strong evidence that droplets <13µm diameter played a critical role in ice multiplication.  In fact, it was thought for a time that very low concentrations of those small drops would lead to clouds absent in ice multiplication in clean locations (e.g., Hallett et al. 1980u).   However, Mossop 1985a, u himself, in later laboratory experiments determined that small drops played a much-reduced role in H-M.   Cloud studies in pristine environments where ice multiplication was rampant (RH91u in the Washington State coastal waters in onshore flow, HR98 in the Arctic, Rangno and Hobbs (2005) in the Marshall Islands, and Connolly et al. (2006a) in England, would seem to have confirmed the minor role of droplets <13 µm diameter in riming and splintering in clean conditions.

Section 2, p7.3-7.4:  The F2017 Table 1 and the discussion of laboratory and field observations of secondary ice particles.

Comment:  While Section 2 was remarkably thorough, some important findings were not cited, or listed in Table 7.1 of the many studies of secondary ice particles.  Ono (1971u, 1972u) should have been included in Table 7-1 and in the accompanying F2017 discussions; he appears to have preceded Hallett and Mossop (1974) concerning the importance of larger cloud droplets coincident with graupel in ice multiplication[13].  Two elucidating quotes from Ono: 

Ono (1971u), his abstract:

“(Ice crystal) sizes, concentrations and microphysical conditions of occurrence support the hypothesis that they were formed when ice fragments were thrown off from water drops freezing after accreting on ice crystals.”

Ono (1972u):

“However, from our present observations, it has been found that in the clouds where moderately large drops of 30 to 60 µm in diameter and graupel-like rimed ice particles occurred simultaneously, we have a high concentration of secondary ice crystals. The presence of drops with some hundreds of microns in diameter is not a crucial factor for crystal multiplication.”

Moreover, Ono’s (1972u) findings above would appear to square better with our own findings (e.g., HR90, RH91u) for maritime clouds in the Washington coastal waters concerning high ice particle concentrations since our cumuliform clouds in onshore flow always had plenty of supercooled droplets >30 µm diameter in their middle and upper portions, sizes that Ono implicated in ice multiplication.  Also, our Washington maritime clouds have virtually no mm-sized drops as F2017 erroneously conclude are necessary for the “rapid” ice formation.

At the top of p 7.4: “…and observations are compromised by the potential of ice to break on contact with the aircraft or instruments (e.g., Field et al. 2006).”

Comment:  A single reference to Field et al (2006) regarding probe-related ice artifacts could lead the reader to believe that shattering on probe tips was a very recently discovered problem.   Shattering on probe tips has been a well-known problem and was obvious in the imagery as soon as 2D probes began to be used in the late 1970s.   Those of us in airborne research have been addressing this problem for more than 30 years to minimize the contribution of artifacts to ice particle concentrations (e.g., Harris-Hobbs and Cooper 1987). 

Many of reports of ice multiplication have originated at ground sites (e.g., Hobbs 1969u, Auer 1969u, Burrows and Robertson 1969u, Ono 1971u, 1972u, Vardiman 1978).  Citing these reports and emphasizing that they were ground sites would have made it clear to the reader that airborne artifacts have not reduced this enigma very much.

In fact, in view of the complexity of aircraft measurements of ice particles, MORE ground observations are critical, particularly at sites where the H-M process should be frequently active in clouds at the ground as in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State (e.g., Paradise Ranger Station).  Such ground measurements are vitally needed as well in the Middle East at sites where there has been a dearth of ice-in-cloud measurements[14].  Some authors now claiming that even modern outfitted research cannot derive accurate concentrations of ice particles (i.e., Freud et al. 2015).   Hence, the need for more ground work if, in fact, the assertion in Freud et al. 2015 is true..

Section 2, last paragraph on p7.4: “Splinter production following the freezing of a large millimeter size droplet that subsequently shatters (droplet shattering; e.g., Mason and Maybank 1960..”

Comment:   The authors in citing Mason and Maybank (1960) several times are apparently unaware that Mason and Maybank’s results were compromised by CO2, as discovered by Dye and Hobbs 1966u.  CO2is a gas that promoted the shattering of drops that Mason and Maybank observed. Later, however, Hobbs and Alkesweeny 1968u, did find that a fewsplinters were shed by drops that rotated in free fall as they froze, far fewer than reported by Mason and Maybank.  Hobbs and Alkesweeny’s work should have been cited along with that of Brownscombe and Thorndike (1968).                                                                                                                                            

P7.2, Section 2, laboratory evidence for secondary ice formation:

Comment:  The role of water supersaturation in ice formation was ignored as a possible source of secondary ice.  Gagin and Nozyce 1984u reported the appearance of ice crystals in the environment of freezing mm-sized drops in lab experiments.  They attributed the formation of the new ice crystals to a pulse of high supersaturation with respect to water as the freezing drop warmed to 0°C in their chamber.  This could be an important secondary ice-forming mechanism, similar in effect to that used by Chisnell and Latham (1976), who incorporated splinters derived from freezing drops.   This process might explain the simultaneous appearance of ice splinters that appear so quickly, side-by-side, with frozen precipitation-sized drops.

P7.4, Section 3.  In situ observations of SIP and the discussion of the role of IN.

Comment:  The work of Rosinski (1991u) goes uncited.  Rosinski did a lot of work on maritime IN, ones that he claimed were active at slightly supercooled temperatures in concentrations of tens per liter.  His work should have been mentioned, even if it’s only to state that his measurements are not generally accepted.  However, if he was even partially correct, his findings would go a long way to explaining the rapidity of ice development in maritime clouds.

P7.5, “In addition, the measurements may be affected by the possibility that ice particles generated by the passage of the aircraft through the cloud (Woodley et al. 2003) from previous cloud passes could have mixed into the measured samples.” 

Comment:  The authors only cite Woodley et al. (2003) regarding aircraft-produced ice due to the passage of an aircraft.  This unexpected phenomenon was first reported 20 years prior to Woodley et al.  by Rangno and Hobbs (1983u, 1984u)[15].  Scientific etiquette requires that those who went first be cited.  Not citing benchmark papers that roiled the airborne research community due to the temperatures at which ice was produced (>-10°C) is remarkable. John Hallett (2008) termed this finding, “an embarrassment to the airborne research community.”

Too, not being cited when you should be inflicts material damage since one’s impact in one’s field, likelihood of promotions, awards, etc, is measured by citation metrics.

P7.6 “Lawson et al. (2015) suggest that the rapid glaciation in these strong updraft cores (~10ms-1) occurs at temperatures too cold and a rate too fast to be attributable to the H-M process.

Comment:  Citing the report of Stith et al. (2004u) would have been perfect here, as would have been Paluch and Breed (1984u).

P7.7, discussion of Heymsfield and Willis (2014):  “Heymsfield and Willis (2014)found that SIP evidenced by observations of needles–columns throughout the range -3°C to -14°C was observed predominantly where the vertical velocities were in the range from -1 to +1 ms-1.   The LWCs in the regions where SIP are observed are dominantly below 0.10 gm-3.  Median LWCs in these regions were only about 0.03 gm-3 with no obvious dependence on the temperature.”

Comment:  The Heymsfield and Willis (2014) finding is not only counter to most of the Washington experience but also that of other workers (e.g., Mossop et al. 1968u, Figure 4[16]; Mossop et al. (1972u. Figure 2; Mossop 1985u, Figure 1), Paluch and Breed 1984u; Lawson et al 2015’s “first ice”).  Why?   The initiation and observation of small ice particles in high concentrations usually occurs in the higher (short-lived) LWC zones (>0.5 g m-3).   These contrary findings are not mentioned by F2017, ones that would have presented a different picture of the origin of the high concentrations of ice.  Perhaps Heymsfield and Willis (2014) encountered their high ice particles in cloud “death throes”; evaporating anvil shelving, rather having encountered them close to where they formed? 

P7.7, discussion of Taylor et al. (2016):  “Taylor et al. (2016)analyzed aircraft measurements in maritime cumulus with colder (11°C) cloud-base temperatures that formed over the southwest peninsula of the United Kingdom. They found that almost all of the initial ice particles were frozen drizzle drops [;(0.5–1) mm], whereas vapor-grown ice crystals were dominant in the later stages. Their observations indicate that the freezing of drizzle–raindrops is an important process that dominates the formation of large ice in the intermediate stages of cloud development. In the more mature stage of cloud development the study found high concentrations of small ice within the H-M temperature range.”

Comment:  Virtually identical findings to Taylor et al.’s was reported for even cooler based clouds a quarter of a century earlier by RH91u which should have been cited along with Taylor et al.’s.

P7.7, 2nd: “It has been speculated that graupel does not need to play the rimer role. In situ observations from frontal cloud systems suggest that riming snowflakes may be able to mediate the SIP (Crosier et al. 2011; Hogan et al. 2002.).

Comment:  The 2002 and 2011 references to non-graupel ice particles shedding splinters seem out of place since this was considered so many years prior to these references.  For example, riming by other than graupel particles was part of the “potential” H-M scheme of Harris-Hobbs and Cooper in 1987, in Mason 1998, and by Mossop 1985b.

We should cite those who tread the ground before we did.

P7.8. last three lines:   “Finally, it should be noted that conditions where cloud tops are -12ºC and drizzle-sized supercooled droplets are present do not always result in the production of large numbers of ice crystals. Bernstein et al. (2007) and Rasmussen et al. (1995)identified these conditions as long-lived clouds and hazardous for aircraft.” 

Some elaboration on the interesting and important findings of Bernstein et al. (2007) and Rasmussen et al. (1995):

The University of Washington aircraft observed drizzle drops aloft in orographic clouds in the Oregon Cascade Mountains during IMPROVE 2 (Stoelinga et al. 2003); we had not observed them in the more aerosol-impacted clouds of the Washington Cascades in many years of sampling them, though we did not fly in the kind of strong synoptic situations encountered in IMPROVE 2. 

However, those Oregon drizzle drops that we encountered in IMPROVE 2, as usually happens, didn’t make it to the ground as liquid drops.   IMPROVE 2 had ground measurements in support of airborne work; no freezing rain or drizzle events were reported, a finding compatible with long term records in the Sierras, and Cascades with precipitation at below freezing temperatures under westerly flow situations and when the temperature decreases with height (unpublished data).   There is a duration-below-freezing-temperature factor, as well as the temperature itself, that together control the freezing of precipitation-sized drops.  The deeper the sub-freezing layer at temperatures below about -4°C, the more likely drops will freeze on the way down becoming sleet/ice pellets.

Supercooled layered cloud tops, sometimes colder than -30°C, are common and persistent, and they have been known about since 1957 (Cunningham 1957u, Hall 1957u; this situation is shown in Byers 1965u), and were described later by HR85, HR98, and explained by Rauber and Tokay 1991u. Supercooled tops, usually ones having a broad droplet spectrum if they are shedding ice (RH85), persist because the ice that forms within them falls out, as do precipitation-sized drops, if any, and those drops freeze on the way down.  Altocumulus clouds sporting virga is a common example of this phenomenon.  In this “upside down” storm situation, ice particle concentrations have been observed to increase downward (e.g., HR85; Rasmussen et al. 1995) likely due to the breakup of fragile crystals.  This phenomenon can mislead researchers solely using satellite data to infer the phase of entire cloud systems below those tops.

p7.15, Section 6, discussion and conclusions section, second bulleted item:  “The onset of the rapid glaciation of convective clouds is observed to occur shortly after millimeter-size drops freeze.”

Comment:  If Ono’s 1972u findings are correct the glaciation process is also triggered by drops smaller than even drizzle drops (0.2 to 0.5 mm diameter).  In our cool-based, modest-sized Washington State maritime clouds (bases rarely >6°C) with mm-sized drops were rarely encountered; nevertheless, ice formation was usually rapid and prolific. 

P7.15, Section 6, 2ndparagraph, last sentence: “It has been suggested by, for example, Koenig (1963)and Lawson et al. (2015)that supercooled raindrops play an important role in the initiation of the glaciation process and there is evidence that this can occur at temperatures greater than -10°C.”

Comment:  The phrasing that “there is evidence”, which was likely unintentional, makes it sound like the appearance of ice in clouds with tops >-10°C is a rare phenomenon which the authors know is hardly rare!  It happens globally over the oceans in clean conditions, and in continental convective clouds with warm bases.

  1. Minor comments and corrections

P7.6 “Figure 7-6shows aircraft observations taken within a few hundred meters of cloud top by repeatedly penetrating a rapidly growing convective plume”    

Comment:  Can the authors rule out aircraft production of ice?

P7.7: “They found that almost all of the initial ice particles were frozen drizzle drops ~ (0.5–1) mm], whereas vapor-grown ice crystals were dominant in the later stages.”

Comment: Drizzle drops are defined by the AMS and WMO as close togetherdrops between 0.2 mm and 0.5 mm diameter.  They virtually float in the air. The 0.5 to 1 mm diameter drops that F2017 refer to are raindrops, not drizzle ones.

P7.2, Section 2, Laboratory Studies:

Comment:  Amid citations of laboratory experiments that “have produced secondary ice”, we point out that Choularton et al (1980) only produced protuberances and spicules, not actual ice particles.  Later, F2017 again cite Choularton et al. a bit incorrectly by suggesting the drop sizes for spicule production he studied was “>~25 µm”.  Choularton et al. reported the main increase in protuberances was for droplets >20 µm diameter.

P 7.4, Section 3, In Situ Cloud Studies, first paragraph, 2ndline:  “Ice particles are often observed in abundance in convective clouds that are colder than 0°C but with cloud-top temperatures warmer than about -12°C…”

Comment:   Slightly more accurately: “… clouds whose tops have ascended past -4°C but have not been colder than about -12°C…”

P7.5, Section 3, last paragraph:   “Hobbs and Rangno (1985, 1990, 1998), in a series of aircraft investigations of maritime cumulus off the coast of Washington…” 

Comment:  F2017 indicates that HR98 concerned Washington State coastal clouds.  It concerned Arctic stratiform clouds.  This seems like a remarkable error for 29 authors to make.  Moreover, in HR98 we discussed ice multiplication in pristine, slightly supercooled Arctic Stratus clouds with extremely low (<20 cm-3) droplet concentrations.  We found little correlation between droplets <13µm diameter droplets and small (<300 diameter) ice particles as some have reported (Harris-Hobbs and Cooper 1987) in support of their importance in riming and splintering process.  Yet ice was plentiful (10s per liter) regardless of the concentrations of those small droplets in boundary-layer Stratocumulus clouds with tops of just -4° to -6° C.

P7.5, Section 3, the discussion of Harris-Hobbs and Cooper 1987:  “Harris-Hobbs and Cooper (1987)used airborne observations from cumulus clouds in three different geographic regions to estimate secondary ice production rates.” 

Comment:  The California clouds that HHC87 examined were not Cumulus but were long stretches of orographic stratiform, banded cloud systems rather than Cumulus clouds.

Editorial note concerning the popular phrasing, “warm or “cold” temperatures in numerous places.

A quote from Peter Hobbs on this common error; “A cup of coffee can be warm or cold, but not a temperature.”  A temperature is a number and can have no physical state itself, but rather refers to the state of a tangible object.

Acknowledgements:  This review is dedicated to the memory of Peter V. Hobbs, Director of the Cloud and Aerosol Research Group, Atmospheric Sciences Department, University of Washington, Seattle.  He allowed me to become the most I could be in my field.  This is also dedicated to our “can do” pilots;  the many members of our flight crews; and our software engineers, whose dedication to their jobs over the years in the adverse conditions that we often flew in, made our findings possible.

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____________, Rushkin, R. E., and J. K. Heffernan, 1968:  Glaciation of a cumulus at -4° C.  J. Atmos. Sci., 25, 889-899. doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1968)025%3C0889:GOACAA%3E2.0.CO;2

Murgatroyd, R. J., and M. P. Garrod, 1960:  Observations of precipitation elements in cumulus clouds.  Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 86,167-175.  doi-org/10.1002/qj.49708636805

Ono, A., 1971:  Some aspects of the natural glaciation process in relatively warm maritime clouds.  Memorial Volume of the late Prof. Syono.  A special issue of the J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 49, 845-858.  No doi.

_______, 1972: Evidence on the nature of ice crystal multiplication processes in natural cloud. J. Res. Atmos., 6, 399-408.  No doi.

Paluch, I. M., and D. W. Breed, 1984: A continental storm with a steady state adiabatic updraft and high concentrations of small ice particles: 6 July 1976 case study.J. Atmos. Sci., 41, 1008-1024.  doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1984)041%3C1008:ACSWAS%3E2.0.CO;2

Pruppacher, H. R., and J. D. Klett, 1997: Microphysics of Clouds and Precipitation. 2nd ed. Kluwer Academic, 954 pp.

Rangno, A. L., 2008: Fragmentation of Freezing Drops in Shallow Maritime Frontal Clouds.  J. Atmos. Sci. 65, 1455-1466.  doi.org/10.1175/2007JAS2295.1 

___________, and P. V. Hobbs, 1983: Production of ice particles in clouds due to aircraft penetrations. J. Climate Appl. Meteor.,22, 214-232. doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(1983)022%3C0214:POIPIC%3E2.0.CO;2

___________, and __________, 1984: Further observations of the production of ice particles in clouds due to aircraft penetrations. J. Climate Appl. Meteor., 23, 985-987. doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(1984)023%3C0985:FOOTPO%3E2.0.CO;2

___________, and __________, 1988: Criteria for the development of significant concentrations of ice particles in cumulus clouds.  Atmos. Res., 22, 1-13. No doi.

___________, and __________, 1991: Ice particle concentrations in small, maritime polar cumuliform clouds. Quart J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 118, 105-126. doi-org/10.1002/qj.49711749710

___________, and __________, 1994:  Ice particle concentrations and precipitation development in small continental cumuliform clouds. Quart. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc.,120, 573-601. doi-org/10.1002/qj.49712051705

___________, and __________, 1995:  A new look at the Israeli cloud seeding experiments.  J. Appl. Meteor., 34, 1169-1193.doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(1995)034%3C1169:ANLATI%3E2.0.CO;2

___________, and __________, 2001: Ice particles in stratiform clouds in the Arctic and possible mechanisms for the production of high ice concentrations. J. Geophys. Res., 106, 15 065–15 075.   doi:10.1029/2000JD900286.

___________, and __________, 2005: Microstructures and precipitation development in cumulus and small cumulonimbus clouds over the warm pool of the tropical Pacific Ocean.Quart. J. Roy. Meteor.Soc., 131, 639–673.   doi:10.1256/qj.04.13.

Rasmussen, R. M., B. C. Bernstein, M. Murakami, G. Stossmeister, J. Reisner, and B. Stankov, 1995: The 1990 Valentine’s Day Arctic outbreak. Part I: Mesoscale structure and evolution of a Colorado Front Range shallow upslope cloud. J. Appl. Meteor., 34, 1481–1511.    doi:10.1175/1520-0450-34.7.1481.

Rauber, R. M. and Tokay, A.1991: An explanation for the existence of supercooled liquid water at the top of cold clouds. J. Atmos. Sci., 48, 1005-1023. doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1991)048%3C1005:AEFTEO%3E2.0.CO;2

Rosinski, J., 1991: Latent ice-forming nuclei in the Pacific Northwest. Atmos. Res., 26, 509-523. doi-org/10.1016/0169-8095(91)90041-T

Saunders, P. M., 1965: Some characteristics of tropical marine showers. J. Atmos. Sci., 22, 167-173.        doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1965)022%3C0167:SCOTMS%3E2.0.CO;2

Schemenauer, R. S., and G. A. Isaac, 1984:  The importance of cloud top lifetime in the description of natural cloud characteristics.  J. Climate Appl. Meteor., 23,267-279. doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(1984)023%3C0267:TIOCTL%3E2.0.CO;2

Scorer, R. S., and F. H. Ludlum, 1953: Bubble theory of penetrative convection. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 79, 94-103.  doi-org/10.1002/qj.49707933908

Stoelinga, M. A., and co-authors, 2003:  Improvement of Microphysical Parameterization through Observational Verification Experiment.  Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 84, 1807-1825.

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Waldvogel, A., L. Klein, D. J. Musil, and P. L. Smith, 1987:  Characteristics of Radar-Identified Big Drop Zones in Swiss Hailstorms. J. Clim and Appl. Meteor., 26, 861-877.

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======================================================

FOOTNOTES

[1]Retiree, Cloud and Aerosol Research Group, Atmos. Sci. Dept., University of Washington, Seattle.

[2]Hobbs and Rangno 1985, 1990, and 1998, hereafter HR85, HR90, and HR98, and Rangno and Hobbs 2001 and 2005, hereafter RH2001 and RH2005.

[3]Exceptions might be those situations where fresh turrets rise up through remains of turrets in calm or nearly calm situations.

[4]It is interesting to note that aufm Kampe and Weickmann (1951) produced virtually the same ice nuclei activity graph as found in DeMott et al. 2010. Blanchard (1957) froze freely suspended giant drops at -5° to -8°C using out door air, as did aufm Kampe and Weickmann.

[5]We also found it difficult to arrive at that moment of “explosive” ice development with our aircraft.

[6]The Quillayute, WA, rawinsonde 500 mb temperature was -45°C the morning of our flight!

[7]We note that in the cloud studied by Mossop (1985u) a drop of 1.5 mm diameter was encountered.

[8]If Ono (1972u) was correct about the importance of drops between 30 µm and 60 µm diameter, then we may have been barking up the wrong “ice tree” by concentrating on drizzle and raindrop sizes.

[9]While tedious, we inspected all our 2-D imagery in our Cumulus studies for artifact problems; we didn’t just crunch numbers without looking at every 2-D strip!

[10]This colloquy also emphasized an extremely important point in science; we should speak out on findings that we question instead of remaining on the sidelines.  We admired Blyth and Latham for questioning our work. After all, we could be wrong!

[11]Isaac and Schemenauer (1979), however, criticized Mossop’s 1978 nomogram; Mossop (1979) responded politely with more supportive data.

[12]It has been said that references to ground breaking early work is disappearing in publications due to the presence of younger authors.

[13]Ono worked with Mossop (e.g., Mossop and Ono 1969u), perhaps there was some “cross-pollination” of ideas…

[14]Sites to consider might be at Mt. Hermon, Israel, or at ski resorts in Lebanon. In-cloud situations with snow and graupel precipitation would be common at these sites.

[15]Our first two submitted manuscripts, ones that preceded RH83u, were rejected. The editor wrote, concerning the 2ndmanuscript, “The reviewers are still unconvinced by these controversial claims”, B. Silverman, Ed., personal correspondence.

[16]Mossop et al. 1968u also found columnar ice particles in dissipating, anvil-like regions as well as in high LWC zones.

Wintertime cold Cumulonimbus clouds erupt with sprinkles and snow flurries; no damage reported

One passed over at 9:19 AM with a hard multi-second, surprise rain shower.  One person reported a couple of graupel, or soft hail particles. Tipped the bucket, too; 0.01 added to our Sutherland Heights storm total.  Its now at 0.23 inches.  Of course, there was no damage, but putting that word in a title might draw “damage trollers”, increase blog hits….

The rest of the day was clouds withering, getting mashed down on tops as bases rose and tops settled back, then suddenly, about 3:30 PM, small areas of ice crystals began to show up in a couple of spots, and, boy, did things take off after that.  Tops were lifting to higher temperatures, likely due to an approaching trough, one that otherwise is too dry to do much else.

Honest to goodness cold, wintertime Cumulonimbus clouds formed, though not very deep ones.  Probably of the order of 2-3 km thick is all (eyeball estimate).

But with our cold air aloft, tops were well below -20° C (4° F), lots of ice formed in them and produced streamers of ice and virga across the sky, and in tiny areas, the precip got to the ground.

And with “partly cloudy” conditions, there were lots of gorgeous, highlighted scenes around the mountains.

Let us review yesterday’s clouds and weather and not think about the future too much, starting with an afternoon balloon sounding temperature and dew point profile from IPS MeteoStar:

The Tucson balloon sounding ("rawinsonde" in weatherspeak) launched about 3:30 PM yesterday. Takes about an hour to reach 60,000 feet, but goes higher. Cloud bases were just about at the top of Ms. Mt. Lemmon. Tops were only around 18,000 feet above sea level, but were extremely cold for such small clouds.
The Tucson balloon sounding (“rawinsonde” in weatherspeak) launched about 3:30 PM yesterday. Takes about an hour to reach 60,000 feet, but goes higher. Cloud bases were just about at the top of Ms. Mt. Lemmon. Tops were only around 18,000 feet above sea level, but were extremely cold for such small clouds.  Hence, they were only about 9,000 feet thick at their maximum.

So what do clouds look like when they have tops as cold as -28°Ç?

Well, I really didn’t get a good profile shot of those clouds, they were either too close, obscured by other clouds, or too faraway, so instead let us look at two dogs looking at something as a distraction:

4:11 PM. Dogs observing a plethora of glaciating Cumulus clouds, transitioning to Cumulonimbus.
4:11 PM. Dogs observing a plethora of glaciating Cumulus clouds, transitioning to Cumulonimbus.

Well, let’s start this when the ice first appeared in a cloud, much later in time than what was thought here yesterday morning.  If you logged this “first ice” you are worthy of a merit, a star on your baseball cap:

3:24 PM. FIrst ice of the day, finally, spotted on the SW horizon. The file size is huge so that you can see it for yourself. I had just about given up on ice in clouds, Notice, too, how small the clouds are at this time.
3:24 PM. FIrst ice of the day, finally, spotted on the SW  and WSW horizon in two little areas. The file size is huge so that you can see it for yourself. I had just about given up on ice in clouds, Notice, too, how small the clouds are at this time.

Well, while flawed from a cloud profile sense, here’s what they were looking at, it was the best I could do:

4:19 PM. Note sunlit shower reaching the ground.
4:19 PM. Note sunlit shower reaching the ground.  The hazy stuff is ice crystals, a lot of them all over the place.

4:22 PM. A close up in case you don't believe me that the rain was reaching the ground.
4:22 PM. A close up in case you don’t believe me that the rain was reaching the ground.  I sometimes find that credibility is lacking here.

4:39 PM. Eventually a cluster of precipitating clouds developed near the Catalina Mountains and here are dropping snow and graupel trails.
4:39 PM. Eventually a cluster of precipitating clouds developed near the Catalina Mountains and here are dropping snow and graupel trails.

Let us go zooming:

4:39 PM. Shaft up close. That dark, narrow line in the middle is without doubt a soft hail (graupel) strand. THere might be others, but this one is obvious. The verticality is due to faster falling particles, which graupel are because they are ultimately snowflakes that have captured cloud droplets on the way down, making them much heavier than just a snowflake.
4:39 PM. Shaft up close. That dark, narrow line in the middle is without doubt a soft hail (graupel) strand. THere might be others, but this one is obvious. The “verticality” is due to faster falling particles comprising that strand, which graupel are because they are ultimately snowflakes that have captured cloud droplets on the way down, making them much heavier than just a snowflake.

4:48 PM. Just snow falling out, no real "verticality", a sign of graupel falling out.
4:45 PM. Just light snow falling out here on the Catalinas, no real “verticality” in this shaft, which would be a sign of graupel falling out.

4:46 PM. An opening allowed this distance cross section of a cold, wintertime Cumulonimbus (capillatus) cloud streaming a shield of ice and virga downwind.
4:46 PM. An opening allowed this zoomed cross section of a cold, wintertime Cumulonimbus (capillatus) cloud streaming a shield of ice and virga downwind.  On the left sloping-upward part, the Cumulus turrets still contain liquid droplets (have that ruffled, hard look associated with the higher concentrations that go with droplet clouds compared to all ice clouds).  Sometimes, in spite of the low temperature, here, from the sounding the top is likely approaching the minimum temperature of -28°C, droplets can still survive for a short time before freezing, giving way to lower concentrations of ice crystals.   That appears to be the case here at the tippy top. of the cloud in the back  What is interesting here, an enigma, is that the foreground cloud in front of the cloud I was just discussing,  is clearly all ice from the smallest element to its top and mimics the cross section of the background cloud.  Could it be that its simply older and ice generated in the colder regions has permeated the whole cloud?

Below, diagrammed:

Same photo with writing on it since the written explanation didn't seem very satisfactory.
Same photo with writing on it since the written explanation didn’t seem very satisfactory.

5:07 PM. Graupel in the Gap (the Charouleau one). Well, maybe its a little beyond the gap.
5:07 PM. Graupel in the Gap (the Charouleau one). Well, maybe its a little beyond the Gap, but it sounded good to write that..  This started to fall out of a Cumulus congestus transitioning to a Cumulonimbus.  The first particles out the bottom are always the heaviest, hence, graupel or hail.

Looking elsewhere, there are snow showers everywhere!

5:08 PM. Nice shafting over there near Romero Canyon. Pretty straight up and down, so likely has a lot of small graupel in it.
5:08 PM. Nice shafting over there near Romero Canyon. Pretty straight up and down, so likely has a lot of small graupel in it.

5:08 PM. Looking down Tucson way, this is NOT a graupel shaft. Sure the particles are large, but look at how they're just kind of hanging, getting mixed around by a little turbulence. Guess aggregates of dendrites, ice crystals that grow like mad around -15° C, and because of being complex, often lock together when they collide. Its not unusual to have 20 or more single stellar. dendritic fern like crystals locked into a single snowflake and that would be a good guess about what this is. Where the bottom disappears, likely around 3000 feet above sea level, is where those big aggregates are melting into rain drops
5:08 PM. Looking down Tucson way, this is NOT a graupel shaft, but rather gently falling large snowflakes.. Sure the particles are large, but look at how they’re just kind of hanging there getting mixed around by a little turbulence, almost forming a mammatus look. There are likely aggregates of dendrites, fern-like ice crystals that grow like mad around -15° C, and because of being complex forms, often lock together when they collide. Its not unusual to have 20 or more single stellar. dendritic crystals locked into a single snowflake. Where the bottom disappears, likely around 3000 feet above sea level, is where those big aggregates are melting into rain drops.

5:10 PM. Interrupting the tedium with a nice neighborhood lighting scene as a sun poked between clouds.
5:10 PM. Interrupting the tedium with a nice neighborhood lighting scene as a sun poked between clouds.  We’re not completely cloud-centric here, but close.

5:26 PM. This strange scene of a very shallow snow cloud, completely composed of ice and snow, obscuring the tops of the Catalinas, but being very shallow, hardly above them may explain the cross section enigma. The snow cloud here is all that remains of a much deeper cloud that converted to all ice, then those crystals just settling out, the whole cloud dropping down as a snow flurry. It may well have been as deep as the cloud top on the left or higher before converting to ice and just falling to the ground en masse. Or is it, en toto?
5:26 PM. This strange scene of a very shallow snow cloud, completely composed of ice and snow, obscuring the tops of the Catalinas, but being very shallow, hardly above them may explain the cross section enigma. The snow cloud here is all that remains of a much deeper cloud that converted to all ice, then those crystals just settling out, the whole cloud dropping down as a snow flurry. It may well have been as deep as the cloud top on the left or higher before converting to ice and just falling to the ground “en masse.” Or is it, “en toto“?  What makes this odd is that there is usually some “cloud ice” (ice particles too small to have much fall velocity) at the level from which the precip fell from. You don’t see that here; just a belt of light snow.   Maybe this is why there was that shallow, glaciated cloud  in the Cumulonimbus cross section shot…..  That shalllow cloud was not a new portion, but rather a tail dragger like this stuff, once having been much higher and was actually ice settling out, not new rising, glaciated cloud.  From the back side, you can see that this ice cloud would appear to slope up  if viewed from the east instead of the west like our cross section iced out cloud.  Setting a record for hand waving today.  IS anybody still out there?  I don’t think so.  Maybe I need another dog picture….

5:34 PM. Here's the last of that unsual snow cloud as its last flakes settled to the ground.
5:34 PM. Here’s the last of that unsual snow cloud as its last flakes settled to the ground.

The day concluded with a very nice sunset:

5:53 PM. Sunset color with shafts of snow down Tucson way.
5:53 PM. Sunset color with shafts of snow turning to rain down Tucson way.

 

Now, the long dry spell…  Break through flow from the Pacific under the “blocking high”  eventually happens about a week away now, but more and more looks like that flow might stay too far to the north of us, rather blast northern Cal some more,  and not bring precip this far south.  The blocking high needs to be in the Gulf of AK, but now is being foretold to be much farther north…

The End, gasping for air here.  More like a treatise than a quick read!

Cold clouds and pretty, wintry scenes as long as they don’t last too long

What a gorgeous day yesterday was with deep blue skies dotted with Cumulus and one or two shallow Cumulonimbus, highlighted by our snow-capped Catalina Mountains.  After the brief warm up, more storms ahead for Catalina!

Yesterday’s clouds

DSC_0487
10:23 AM. By this time Cumulus were popping up all over, and with the temperature at just 10,000 feet above sea level (7,000 feet above Catalina) cloud mavens everywhere were pretty sure ice would eventually form in lots of Cumulus.

DSC_0490
10:24 AM. Shallow Cumulus congestus (left side) converting into an equally shallow Cumulonimbus capillatus (right half of cloud). This scene from a fairly primitive area of Arizona.

10:26 AM.
10:26 AM.  Pretty scene over Saddlebrooke.

DSC_0494
10:37 AM. Ice, there it is. Even shallow clouds spewed ice crystals and or small snowflakes (clusters of individual ice crystals.

Explanatory module below

The TUS balloon sounding, launched at about 3:30 AM yesterday morning from the campus of the University of Arizona Wildcats.
The TUS balloon sounding, launched at about 3:30 AM yesterday morning from the campus of the University of Arizona Wildcats.

DSC_0496
10:27 AM. Wintry scene #1, view toward the Charouleau Gap, and why do the French make spelling so hard?

11:04 AM. "Ice, there it is!", to paraphrase a song from "In Living Color."
11:04 AM. “Ice, there it is!”, to paraphrase a song from “In Living Color.”

DSC_0508
11:12 AM. Wintry scene #2. View is toward the Charouleau Gap.

DSC_0510
11:12 AM. Icy, but shallow Cumulonimbus cloud heads toward Catalina spewing a light rain shower and soft hail called “graupel.”

11:44 AM. Wintry scene #3.
11:44 AM. Wintry scene #3.

DSC_0526
12:32 PM. Not an advertisement for the University of Washington Huskies sports powerhouse, but rather a demonstration and graupel did, in fact,  fall from our shallow Cumulonimbus clouds yesterday.  BTW, the Washington Huskies play the NFL-ready, #1 Alabama Crimson Tide on New Year’s Eve at 1 PM AST in a fubbal playoff game.  It would be great if you watched, raising viewer numbers, and possibly therein,  the revenue stream flwoing into the University of Washington (from which I emanated). Oh, there appears to be a conical graupel there on the left. Graupel falling through a cloud of droplets often stays oriented with one face down, and that face collects all droplets that are freezing on it making that downward  facing side, as you would imagine,  bigger than the rear part, and so you get a pyramidal-shaped piece of soft ice. If it mainly tumbled on the way down through the cloud, it would be pretty spherical.  That white streak on the right is one that’s falling.

11:45 AM. Another ice producing candidate forms in cloud street aligned with Catalina.
11:12 AM. Another ice producing candidate forms in cloud street aligned with Catalina.  Couple of drops is all that came out of this.

DSC_0552
3:18 PM.  Very shallow, ice-producing clouds.  Few in the area had ice at this point in the afternoon, and a very tedious inspection of these clouds, comparing them with surrounding clouds,  suggested that their tops were just a bit higher than the ones around it that did not spew a little ice.

The TUS balloon sounding launched at 3:30 PM AST, also with writing on it.
The TUS balloon sounding launched at 3:30 PM AST, also with writing on it.

5:06 PM. Wintry scene #3 Pretty, eh?
5:06 PM. Wintry scene #4 Pretty, eh?

5:32 PM. Stratocumulus with red liner. Nice.
5:32 PM. Stratocumulus with red liner. Nice.

After the brief warm up ahead, still looks  “troughulent” and stormy in the SW as December closes out,  continuing into January.

The End

0.52 inches here, 1 to 1.5 inches on the CDO upper watershed; will it run?

May take Jake Horse out to see if the Sutherland Wash is running, anyway, if the CDO is not running here in Catalina.

Thunderstorms (at least 4 separate ones yesterday), with hail, graupel, wind, rain;  what a nice day for Catalinans and our environs.  Lightning was still visible as of 7:52 PM last evening, and close enough that  thunder could be heard, technically meaning a thunderstorm is in progress in weather parlance.  Here’s some pea-sized hail for you, sent by a listener, “Dave”, in Sutherland Heights:cropped IMG_20130308_104705_630

Was awakened by a moderate rainshower just before 3 AM.  Dropped 0.03 inches in a few minutes, to bring the total to 0.40.  Another shower followed within half an hour, but bucket didn’t tip for even 0.01 inch.  May have to jiggle it to get that extra 0.01 inch that I KNOW fell. Hahahah.

In the meantime, exulting over the large amounts, so well foretold by the U of AZ Beowulf Cluster run from 24 h ago.  Truly amazing!  Our total here was also well=predicted by that model; amounts in this storm increase northward reaching 0.87 inches at Oracle State Park, 0.55 inches at the NE corner of Saddlebrooke.  We SO needed a good rain.  Here’s where the totals are:

201303091030_pptreport

Here are some mind-boggling statewide totals from the USGS, some approaching two and a half inches of water content at Sunflower near Payson!  How great is that?!  Really, this has been a billion dollar storm in dropped water and snow. Maybe it should have a name now.

2013030911_AZ pcp USgS Sheet1

You will can also access rainfall data from the U of AZ rainlog.org network here, and from CoCoRahs national network for Arizona here.  As always, its necessary to point out that in the rainlog network, the measurements reported this morning will be assigned to yesterday’s date, while the ones in the CoCoRahs system will be assigned to today, March 9th.

Since its unlikely to rain for at least 10 days, I thought I would overdo the precipitation data for our billion dollar storm.

Sadly, as you will see in this Pima County ALERT gauge totals above,  we in the north end of the County really got the nice rain; most of the county did not.  We were lucky we were that bit farther north because it wasn’t the wind direction helping us out in most of the storm; that “help” is taking place now because the wind is more from the west at cloud levels.   Going into yesterday yesterday evening the wind at cloud/mountain top levels was from the south-southwest rather than from the west, and normally that more southerly flow helps the south facing sides of the Catalinas, as much as us.  So, it was more to do with cloud top temperatures and those clouds being a bit too warm to the south, while northward and to the northwest (perpendicular to our jet stream), the temperatures decreased rapidly at the same level in the atmosphere, and that in turn, allowed cloud tops to deepen more as they went nortward.  Make any sense?  Here’s a map of temperatures aloft for yesterday, two graphics to try to explain this:

A 500 millibar map at 5 PM AST.  Center of coldest air is to the northwest of us at that time, gets colder over you as you take Highway 79 to Florence and beyond.  Cloud tops do, too.
A 500 millibar map at 5 PM AST. Center of coldest air is to the northwest of us at that time, gets colder over you as you take Highway 79 to Florence and beyond. Cloud tops do, too.  The full loop is here.

 

Mapm for the same time with colors showing temperatures getting colder to the NW of us.  More likely to have deeper clouds and thunderstorms as you go NW.
Mapm for the same time with colors showing temperatures getting colder to the NW of us. More likely to have deeper clouds and thunderstorms as you go NW.  Full loop is here.

First, here’s last evening’s TUS sounding, as rendered by the Cowboys of Wyoming.  Its got some writing on it:

The Tucson sounding at 5 PM AST, yesterday, March 8th.
The Tucson sounding at 5 PM AST, yesterday, March 8th.  Cloud tops marked by asterisks to represent ice crystals, and bottom by little “o’s”.  The arrows in roughly an “R” shape is an attempt at replicating the thunderstorm sign used by NOAA.  Even though the clouds were topping out at less than 25,000 feet, they still contained enough ingredients such as hail and updrafts to generate enough static electricity for lightning.

———begin tedious stream of consciousness again, probably worth skipping——–

Graupeling hard here at 3:38 AM!  Third shower since getting up!  Pounding roof.  Very small, like rice grains.   Just quit, like someone turned a light off at 3:41 AM.   Tells me its a new cell that just formed with narrow strands of precip/graupel.   Investigating…no echo at 3:36 AM nearby… waiting for next 6 min sweep…    2:42 AM:  No echo!  I have not seen this happen before.  Could it have developed and died in less than 5 min?  Did not tip bucket!  Its just like yesterday, we had no less than four hail/graupel episodes and I was beside myself thinking of those balls of ice bouncing OUT of my rain gauge collector!  I was being short-changed in the amount of precip I could report.   I think I am going to have to add to my rain total, maybe 0.03 inches due hail balls that bounced out

——————–end of tedious stream———————-

OK, now up to 0.13 inches in rain that has fallen since about 3 AM.  This is great, because now the total amount in the storm is 0.50 inches here!

Yesterday’s clouds

After a few sprinkles-its-not-drizzle amid brief sunbreaks yesterday morning, the first thunderstorm rumbled across Marana and the Oro Valley at 9:30 AM.

9:55 AM.  Thunderstorm with hail and heavy rain moves into Oro Valley.
9:55 AM. Thunderstorm with hail and heavy rain moves into Oro Valley.

10:21 AM.  Looking upwind toward Pusch Ridge at the bases of  a line of rapidly moving Cumulus congestus clouds.
10:21 AM. Looking upwind toward Pusch Ridge at the bases of a line of rapidly moving Cumulus congestus clouds.

10:25 AM.  Hail-producing cloud has passed by, but shaft increases in size and visibility.  This is a time when tremendous amounts of ice is forming in the cloud, ultimately leading to its demise as a fluffy area looking area of only ice crystals.  Without the liquid droplets, that disappear during this stage where ice forms explosively, no graupel or hail can form. Its a normal life cycle event for cells like this.
10:25 AM. Hail-producing cloud has passed by, but shaft increases in size and visibility. This is a time when tremendous amounts of ice is forming in the cloud, ultimately leading to its demise as a fluffy area looking area of only ice crystals. Without the liquid droplets, that disappear during this stage where ice forms explosively, no graupel or hail can form.
Its a normal life cycle event for cells like this.

12:12 PM.  Another line of young Cumulonimbus clouds races toward Catalina and Sutherland Heights, a recurring theme yesterday.
12:12 PM. Another line of young Cumulonimbus clouds races toward Catalina and Sutherland Heights, a recurring theme yesterday.

12:23 PM.  Passage of that complex of Cumulonimbus clouds shown in the prior shot resulted in this hail shaft trail on the foothills of Samaniego Ridge.  Hail shafts are very narrow.  If it had been snow, there would have been much greater coverage.
12:23 PM. Passage of that complex of Cumulonimbus clouds shown in the prior shot resulted in this hail shaft trail on the foothills of Samaniego Ridge. Hail shafts are very narrow. If it had been snow, there would have been much greater coverage.

2:30 PM.  But the day wasn't done then, was it?  Here something in the way of an arcus cloud rolled across Oro Valley and onto the Catalinas.  Thought maybe a tube might form.
2:30 PM. But the day wasn’t done then, was it? Here something in the way of an arcus cloud rolled across Oro Valley and onto the Catalinas. Thought maybe a tube might form.

4:55 PM.  Just kept on giving.  Here yet another line of developing Cumulus congestus, just reaching the precip stage a little upwind of Catalina, dropped a few more graupel particles while going on to dump heavily farther north.
4:55 PM. Just kept on giving. Here yet another line of developing Cumulus congestus, just reaching the precip stage a little upwind of Catalina, dropped a few more graupel particles while going on to dump heavily farther north.  This recurring pattern of clouds developing,  able to become deeper with colder cloud tops is the primary reason the north part of Pima County did so well yesterday and this morning,

Today’s clouds

These early morning stratiform (flat) clouds will disperse into Cumulus and Stratocumulus in clumps. They’ll be cold enough at cloud tops for ice and virga, but clouds likely will be too shallow for more than a hundredth or two in the heaviest precip areas around Catalina. Things dry out later in the day, the Cu becoming smaller, so the best chance of measurable rain is before, say, 2 PM.

Get camera out fast, too. THere was a huge dump of hail or snow on Charoleau Gap last night or this morning I suspect, and it looks spectacular even now at 6:53 AM. Its local, because its not seen at the same elevations to the south on Samaniego Ridge. But, it will just be gorgeous with those deep blue skies and white Cumulus clouds all around.

The End, finally, I think.

Thundery trace; expect more than that today

(A note:  I am not getting WYSIWYG in what I am writing and what is posted in WP.  This is SO FRUSTRATING!  True I am a bit of an amateur at WP,  but those spaghetti plots that start the blog are SUPPOSED TO BE AT THE END OF IT as I see them in the draft, not absorbed in the “gallery” as well, dammitall!)  Computers and sofware are going to kill me, I am sure.  Where are my pills?!

Another promising start to a summer day today in Cat Land, as was yesterday since we have another cloud filled morning, some clouds having weak rainshafts indicating glaciation in the turrets sprouting from today’s layer.  And, there’s been a slight uptick in moisture over us, which raises the chances for measurable rain in Catalina today.  We also have support for this contention in the great U of A local model forecasts here, based on last night’s 11 PM AST run!  Yay!

Below, the photographic diary for yesterday starts begins with the Altocumulus opacus layer, with more than one layer up there.  Then, after the usual thinning-dissolution of that layer in the morning, the welcome sight of baby Cumulus beginning to appear over Mt. Lemmon by noon.  Those Cu steadily inflated reaching the “glaciation” level by 1:31 PM, a welcome sight after the “dud” Cumulus clouds of the prior two days.

After our first thundery spell, several new thunderstorms developed to the NW and E-SE over the Catalinas late in the afternoon,  but again, produced only another trace in a 20 minute or so of “very-light-rain-its-not drizzle” (one of the recurring themes here).

Since I can’t add more captions after the icy sprout, a WP problem, the times of the last few photos are, 1:53 PM, 2:08 PM, and finally, another great sunset sequence, some distant Cumulonimbus to the NW and another blazing sunset underlighting some virga from the remains of our last thunderstorm, these taken at 7:30 PM.

The Weather Ahead, way ahead:

We’re always on pins and needles this time of year, hoping for the best summer rains we can get, at least I am. The transformation of the desert into green again during the summer, after the spring greening,  is one of THE most rewarding aspects about living here in the summer, flying ant swarms aside.

Below are the “spaghetti” plots from NOAA that give us some clue about the reliability of the longer term model forecasts.  These are for the afternoon of July 19th, some ten days from now, and the afternoon of July 23rd.  Both plots below strongly indicate that the circulation pattern is ripe for good summer rains here between now and the 24th.  Doesn’t mean that every day will have rain, but it does mean recurring summer rains are likely with no long breaks.  That black region over the SW indicates a high probability (not certainty!) that our big fat SW summer anticyclone will be well positioned for good summer rains here.  In contrast, if that black area was OVER southern Arizona, or to the south, it would be a horribly, hot dry spell here that the models were foretelling.


Yesterday’s awful Cumulus clouds; better ones today!

From the University of WY Cowpokes, this awful sounding from yesterday afternoon at Tucson.  Where the two lines first pinch together, around the “500” label, is where the Cumulus cloud bases were yesterday afternoon (marked by the oval)!  To see why those Cumulus were awful ones with too much ice, check the temperature lines, the ones that slope upward to the right with the labels on the bottom, “0”, -10, -20, etc.   Yep, that’s right, the bottoms of those clouds were at 500 mb, and -20 C!  The Weather Cowboy sounding algorithm, the one that produces all the numbers in the column at right, thinks the bottoms of Cumulus clouds were even HIGHER, at 428 mb and nearly at -30 C (that “LCLP” number)!

So, the awful looking, dried out, Cumulus clouds have been explained.

Too high, too cold, too much ice.  Reminded me of the old days in Durango, Colorado, in the early 1970s.  Charming town, but awful place if you wanted to see Cumulus clouds without much ice.  Too high, too cold, and too much ice there, too.

What’s wrong with too much ice?

Too many ice crystals completing for itty bitty amounts of “condensate” (yes, Virginia, even at those temperatures, cloud begin as liquid droplets).  But when they are so cold to begin with, so many of the droplets freeze, that they all try to take the water from the ones that haven’t frozen (cause them to evaporate, the water molecules rushing to the nearest ice spec.

So when nearly ALL the droplets freeze, the ice crystals are all itty bitty as well, and can’t fall out, even though individually they may have a bit more mass in them than the droplets.  They just float up there and gradually die.

Stories from the field interlude

OK, gotta get this out…   In the domain of cloud seeding, where ice-forming nucleants are put into clouds, the phenomenon of having too many ice crystals would be called, “over-seeding”.  Believe it or not, deliberately “overseeding” clouds to make them look like the ones we had yesterday, and so that they wouldn’t rain has been tried!

Yikes.  Why?

The Coors Brewing Company, in the early 1970s,  did not want their hops in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorada (around Alamosa) spoiled by having rain fall on them at the wrong time.  The program was ended when alfalfa farmers in the same area, ones that WANTED RAIN, terminated the program prematurely with sticks of dynamite;  they blew up the seeding contractor’s radar, used to direct aircraft into the clouds to seed them.  Mr. Cloud-maven person, the writer,  was working in Durango in those days, on the other side of the mountains from Alamosa, on a scientific cloud seeding project (a randomized one) to see if seeding could cause more snow to fall from winter storms, so he was close to the “action.”

Yes, everyone gets excited about clouds and weather, especially alfalfa farmers!  Its so great.

Below a few shots of yesterday’s small, ice-ed out Cumulus.

The haze below this little Cumulus fractus cloud is due to ice having formed in it! Bad news from the get go if you're hoping for virga and rain later in the day.

Merely a Cumulus humilis, center, and having a bit of puffery. But its mostly ice. Quite awful-looking, really.


About today’s “better” clouds

Overnight there was an invasion of air from the east carrying increased lower level humidity. How cold will the bases be today after yesterday’s -20 C or so? Around 0 C our TUS morning sounding suggests. While that’s still cold, it should mean rain to the ground here and there in the fatter Cumulonimbus clouds that will be around even though they will be dominated by ice again. With these higher base temperatures, it means more water condensing in the clouds BEFORE ice forms. When that happens, you are likely today to get “graupel” forming in areas of the clouds where the condensation is greatest, and the ice just beginning to form. “Graupel” or soft hail, falls rapidly compared to ice crystals and aggregates of ice crystals (i.e., “snowflakes” to get away from jargon) and those graupel up there are likely to be what MAINLY gets to the ground today, melted of course, into raindrops. This because the “free air” freezing level is about 7,000 feet above us here in Catalina (3,000 feet elevation). Should be a fun day, reminding us of out upcoming summer rain season.

And, what do we think about when we think about graupel/soft hail forming in the clouds overhead?

Electricity, lightning!  Yes, these clouds will be getting “plugged in”, so to speak, this afternoon here and there.  Be watchful.

 

Nice display of Cirrus uncinus in the late morning as Cu began to form.

BTW, if you want a really expert discussion for today, go to Bob’s page here.  (He may weigh in on this later…) And,  of course,  our NWS here.  They seem to be getting pretty worked up and excited about today’s weather and all the wind that might blow out of our afternoon thunderstorms.

BTW, nice flowers out there in the desert now days; this on our “Arizona rose” (took about nine attempts to upload this!  Bad WP!)

 

The End.

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.   If you weren’t lucky enough to get any, measure it and report it to the National Bureau of Standards, or the NWS, here’s what it looked like on our old chaise lounge a  couple of minutes after it fell (see below).  Some of it was “conical graupel”, pointed on one side, though that is not visible here.  Graupel, soft hail form when there aren’t many ice crystals in the cloud and the cloud is chock full of droplets at below freezing temperatures.  Those droplets freeze instantly onto the ice crystal as it makes it way down to the ground, eventually losing all of its identity as it become a little snowball.  Usually, where this happens in the cloud is in a very limited region, and, it usually doesn’t last for a long time.  So, consider yourself especially “lucky” to see graupel/soft hail, hail.  I do.  If you want to relive yesterday’s clouds, as seen from the U of A, go here.   “Above Catalina” is at the left, beyond Pusch Ridge.

What’s exciting now is that something akin to an atmospheric iceberg is barreling down on us (SE AZ) from the north.  This “cold low” center, representing a column of extraordinarily cold air in this case, goes from the ground all the way up through the “troposphere.”  IN this case, the troposphere is squashed down to less than 20,000 feet over Wy0ming right now. The stratosphere is above that, and above “cold lows”,  the stratosphere dips down over them.  Usually its twice that height at our latitude.

Here’s what I am talking about, shown in this morning’s 500 millibar pressure map (about 18,000 feet above the ground) or usually half way up through the troposphere (map courtesy San Francisco State U.)  The winds flow along the green lines, ones that bend gently toward the west over the Great Basin.  That bend in the wind represents an area where a small low center amid this giant river of wind will form in the next 24 h and that little center of circulation should pass right over us!

Now, not a single model output that I saw from last night’s runs had enough moisture in this forming upper center to have snow even fall on Mt. Sara Lemmon (e.g., the U of AZ regional model from last night).

A few days ago, the Canadian model was suggesting a signficant storm here from this center. I really believe it.   Well, that’s “bye-bye” since the center is not well to the west of us as that Enviro Can model indicated it would be, but rather will end up right over us (which means much drier).    The U of WA model run from this morning’s data says that a little “L” will be right over my house on Thursday morning (see reddish map below) !  Man, it will be cold over me!    Might lose some plants in this one before its over.

However, I am going to stick my neck out and expect (hope) there will be just enough moisture for flurries around here (Catalina area) anyway tomorrow into tomorrow evening.

BTW, the U of A has just issued a special weather discussion here.  You’ll want to check this out!