Category: Stratocumulus clouds

Rainy days and Saturdays

Nice sunset yesterday….as some Stratocumulus spread over the sky underneath a pesky Cirrus cloud cover, clouds that announced the beginning of our next rain spell, now underway. Light rain is falling this morning at 4:07 AM, and has been for hours, amounting to 0.01 inches.  However, some places in Pima Land have gotten much nicer rains, around… Continue reading Rainy days and Saturdays

Clouds of yore, well, those on Thursday, April 26th

Kind of got distracted with chores after the big trip to NC and didn’t get to this until today…    If you can remember as far back as April 26th, we had a “FROPA” (“frontal passage” in weatherspeak) that day.   The U of A weather model indicated beforehand that the bases of the clouds… Continue reading Clouds of yore, well, those on Thursday, April 26th

Rain and cold foretold for Catalina on Saturday as big, long-foretold storm bops Cal then moves on to AZ

Things are falling into place.  Remember the spaghetti from a week or more ago, in which it was clear, or at least at attempt was made to explain to both readers of this blog,  that a large trough was almost certainly going to be along the Cal coast?  We intuited that from the lack of… Continue reading Rain and cold foretold for Catalina on Saturday as big, long-foretold storm bops Cal then moves on to AZ

When the jet goes by, the clouds, lower ones, roll in

And that’s pretty much what happened yesterday.   Here are some maps showing what happened as the jet stream in the middle troposphere (500 millibars or about 18,000 feet above sea level) went overhead while deploying to the east and south of us.  The sky change was pretty dramatic as you may have noticed. First,… Continue reading When the jet goes by, the clouds, lower ones, roll in

Dark clouds but no rain yesterday. What happened?

Quick answer:  1) drops too small to coalesce and form ones bigger ones ; 2) no ice in ’em, for the most part. Read below if you want a LONG discussion about yesterday; dull photos way below Let’s talk about it, though probably more than you want to.  You’re probably a little down because it… Continue reading Dark clouds but no rain yesterday. What happened?

Sprinkles! (coded as “RW- -” if you are keeping a weather diary!) (Its not drizzle!)

Pretty excited up there, as usual. The Cumulus and Stratocumulus clouds began filling in yesterday, and some shed ice/snow virga in the late afternoon.  With that a few drops of rain (melted snow, of course) plopped down on Catalina.  In case you missed those drops, here they are. Also, here are a few shots of… Continue reading Sprinkles! (coded as “RW- -” if you are keeping a weather diary!) (Its not drizzle!)

A Stratocumulus Monday

Yesterday gave us “Catalonians” the perfect example of Stratocumulus clouds.   But why didn’t it rain from those dark clouds, save a few drops, maybe even a brief drizzle episode that mostly moved across Saddlebrooke around 9 AM? Those Stratocumulus clouds were GENERALLY not cold enough at cloud top to have ice crystals form in… Continue reading A Stratocumulus Monday

Twice as nice; 0.53 inches in Catalina (0.58 inches as of 6:39 AM AST)

What a superb rain that was last night.   It just kept coming until finally we piled up an astounding-to-me 0.53 inches by 4 AM this morning.  The regional rain reports from around Tucson can be found here.  As you will see, the upper regions of the Catalina Mountains got around an inch (1.22 inches at… Continue reading Twice as nice; 0.53 inches in Catalina (0.58 inches as of 6:39 AM AST)