Altostratus opacus virgae transitions to Altocumulus during day! Storms to bring rain!

What a day for cloud maven juniors and me, too, watching the Altostratus opacus (but sometimes “translucidus” cuz you could see where the sun was) become Altocumulus!  It happens pretty often and is the result of lowering, and warming of the cloud tops, but I need to generate some excitement on an otherwise somewhat dull… Continue reading Altostratus opacus virgae transitions to Altocumulus during day! Storms to bring rain!

November thunderama

Doesn’t happen every November, thunder, but it sure pounded away at times yesterday.   Seemed louder than usual thunder a few times even with the lightning over there by the Tortolita Mountains. Of course, that’s where the heaviest rain fell as several T-storms tracked along a similar path over there just a little to the W… Continue reading November thunderama

Creamy mammatus precedes overnight thunderation

Thin Cirrostratus overspread the sky at dinner time from the east, thickening into Altostratus cumulonimbogenitus mammatus (you can breath now), toward the Catalina Mountains and in the direction of Oracle.  What a gorgeous sight this was! While the storms that spawned this icy blob were mostly dead by this time, undercutting Altocumulus castellanus below the… Continue reading Creamy mammatus precedes overnight thunderation

Great expectations of mice and men…

…weren’t quite realized1 in the rain totals that our storm produced; the very exciting prediction of several inches of water content foretold for Ms. Lemmon didn’t happen (see ALERT gauge listing below, saved for pretty much the maximum 24 h period of our storm.) Still, rains were substantial, the occasional morning lightning was great, and… Continue reading Great expectations of mice and men…

Smoothies

      Today’s clouds Much like two days ago. Higher based Stratocumulus/Altocumulus with patches of heavy virga and sprinkles around. Back edge of the cloud mass times in around 2-4 PM. Might be a little early for a great sunset, but just in case, have camera ready. Looking farther ahead…. Still mainly dry through… Continue reading Smoothies

Plenty of late November rain ahead…in model; a sunrise beauty

In case you missed it, yesterday’s sunrise:                       The weather way ahead Well, the WRF-GOOFUS model has lots of rain for us again as November closes out, with the model rain amounts foretold in November for Catalina now totaling over two inches, or about twice… Continue reading Plenty of late November rain ahead…in model; a sunrise beauty

Less splotchy; more filling

The clouds yesterday were supposed to be “splotchy”, big clearings between interesting middle clouds like Altocumulus with long virga strands.  Instead there was a vast coverage of Altostratus opacus “dullus” with long streaks of virga, with a few drops reaching the ground here and there but not here.  There was some mammatus-t clouds, too.   Also,… Continue reading Less splotchy; more filling

Let’s look at March, now that its already underway; cloud and weather talk, too

First, a water year (Oct-Sept) update.   You won’t like it: One caveat about February’s total: It might be as much as 0.25 inches higher since a good bit of snow during the historic February 20th storm probably did not get into the Davis Vantage Pro gage located some six feet above ground level where… Continue reading Let’s look at March, now that its already underway; cloud and weather talk, too

Bloggin’ cold, maybe snow here in Catalina

But first, “storm” 3 of six as foretold many days ago by our wonderful numerical models having “billions and billions and billions” of calculations (to use a numeric phrase made popular by the late Carl Sagan)  is going to pass over today.  Hoping for a sprinkle late in the day, but virga seems likely in… Continue reading Bloggin’ cold, maybe snow here in Catalina