For those of you who have forgotten that heavy metal pioneering band, Deep Purple, and their hit, “Smoke on the Water”, to which this post sort of alludes to, straining really, take this. It was kind of fun to see this “songumentary”, because it was about something that really happened. In a line out… Continue reading Smoke and mirrors in the models; fire in the sky
Category: Sunrise
Low spin cycle continuing off Baja; water being added
That enfante terrible now dawdles over the coastal waters of California and northern Baja today, adding some water to its central system as seen here from IPS Meteostar. Note, too, a scruff of Stratocumulus clouds racing northwestward in the Gulf of Baja abouit the latitude of the border between north and south Baja. This is… Continue reading Low spin cycle continuing off Baja; water being added
Sunrise and Cirrus splendor; the rarely seen Cirrus castellanus floats by
Gee, three days with a cloud or two over droughty Catalina! Yay! Here’s yesterday morning’s nice Cirrus uncinus (icy clouds with long trails). Then, later that morning, the RARELY seen Cirrus castellanus sporting some mammatus (downward protuberances at the bottom) showed up. (I should note that some of the female atmos sci students at… Continue reading Sunrise and Cirrus splendor; the rarely seen Cirrus castellanus floats by
Sunrise and sunset heaven: Cirrus and maybe Altocumulus on the way
Yep, a cute tiny little upper air low with just a dollop of high clouds is going to be spit out of the eastern Pacific off Baja Cal today and tomorrow and toward AZ, and along with that will come some Cirrus and probably Altocumulus floccus and castellanus clouds, maybe with virga. The first Cirrus… Continue reading Sunrise and sunset heaven: Cirrus and maybe Altocumulus on the way
“Send in the clouds”….then the wind, the rain, the cold front, the snow
Too bad Steven Sondheim wasn’t a meteorologist. He might have written some great weather songs. Instead, he chose to write about “clowns.” Hmmmm. Perhaps he WAS thinking about some weatherman in those days when he used the word “clowns.” Who can forget that the LA Times headline about weather forecasting in 1981; the headline that… Continue reading “Send in the clouds”….then the wind, the rain, the cold front, the snow
Colorful announcement of a storm
This glorious sunrise today about 7:30 AM announces in its way that a strong storm is on the way. Why? First of all the clouds, “altocumulus lenticularis” are the lower, rippled clouds, combined with a higher, solid layer of altocumulus and altostratus clouds demonstrates that the air is moist to saturated over a great depth… Continue reading Colorful announcement of a storm