Clouds ‘n’ ice galore, a trace of rain, and thunder, too!

Rained, too, between 3:42 PM and 3:47 PM, actually 273 seconds, if you had your stopwatch out.  It was great.  I ran around trying to get wet, but couldn’t do it.

3:44 PM. Rain drops, and don't forget to recycle stuff. And, of course, the admonishment that this is NOT drizzle.
3:44 PM. Proof that rain drops did fall yesterday afternoon.  Don’t forget to recycle stuff and also don’t forget that this kind of rain is NOT “drizzle”1.  Drizzle are fine close together drops that almost float in the air.  Tough to bicycle in drizzle if you wear glasses, in fact, I would say its impossible even if you’re wearing a baseball cap and helmet on top of it because the drizzle blows underneath the cap and onto your glasses so you can’t see anything right away.  Rain drops fall too fast for this to happen. This from personal experience in Seattle.  Always wear a helmet when bicycling.
10:23 AM. Altocumulus clouds formed rapidly over and downwind of Mt. Lemmon.
10:23 AM. After a completely clear morning, Altocumulus clouds formed rapidly over and downwind of Mt. Lemmon. Before long, most were shedding ice.
11:45 AM. Distant Cumulus cloud forms just underneath some Altocumulus clouds. Here's where you KNOW that the day is going to be pretty good as far as convection and virga go because these clouds were so cold, and its late March when the sun is strong.
11:45 AM. Distant Cumulus cloud forms just underneath some Altocumulus clouds. Here’s where you KNOW that the day is going to be pretty good as far as convection and virga go because these clouds were so cold, and its late March when the sun is strong.
1:51 PM. Two hours later the sky was full of glaciating Cumulus clouds, and isolated heavy virga trails, ones heavy enough to reach the ground with a few drops. Looking SW over Oro Valley and toward Marana.
1:51 PM. Two hours later the sky was full of glaciating Cumulus clouds, and isolated heavy virga trails, ones heavy enough to reach the ground with a few drops. Looking SW over Oro Valley and toward Marana.
2:31 PM. Thunder was heard just a minute prior to this photo, The thunderstorm was just to the west of the Tortolita Mountains.
2:31 PM. Thunder was heard just a minute prior to this photo, The storm was just west of the Tortolita Mountains.
3:29 PM. Part of the cloud mass that brought the sprinkles (coded as RW--) to Catalina.
3:29 PM. Part of the cloud mass that brought the sprinkles (coded as RW–) to Catalina.  Probably measured below that little streamer, dead center.  The virga hanging well below solid young cloud bases told you that those bases were far below the freezing level yesterday.  How cold?  Sounding indicates that the bottoms of the Cumulus clouds were about -12 C (10 F).  The higher tops were colder than -30 C (-22 F)
6:36 PM. Residual Altocumulus cumulogentus with a little ice on the side (left).
6:36 PM. Residual Altocumulus cumulogenitus containing a lot of ice if you look closely..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s clouds

Still enough moisture for very shallow Cu fractus, Cu humilis, hold the ice (tops too warm).  Skies will also be overrun with Cirrus, maybe verging on Altostratus, as part of low and trough barging into northern California today.Will get nice and breezy this afternoon, as the low zips on into the Great Basin and makes its presence known here.  Instantaneous puffs might reach 40 mph this afternoon.  No rain possible with this system, darn.

However, deeper Sc and Cu with ice in them should be visible up toward the NW-NE horizon today since a little rain and snow is expected on the M-Rim today, this from the U of AZ super mod’s 06 Z (11 PM AST) run, here.

The End.

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1Here’s the interesting story behind getting THREE public service messages in a single caption/photo:  I wanted to both better serve my public by getting some public service messages out there while at the SAME time, documenting some weather singularity, in this case, one of the rare rain events in the Catalina winter of 2013-14.  Suddenly, in the midst of the rain I was dancing in, I noticed some shiny drops on the lid of the recycle bin, and things just “came together” you might say for a remarkable photo.

Author: Art Rangno

Retiree from a group specializing in airborne measurements of clouds and aerosols at the University of Washington (Cloud and Aerosol Research Group). The projects in which I participated were in many countries; from the Arctic to Brazil, from the Marshall Islands to South Africa.