First, the rain report: 1.73 inches on Samaniego Ridge in the 24 h ending at 3 AM this morning; 0.42 inches here! Fantastic. We’ll keep those watery, glistening rocks on the sides of the Catalinas for a few more days. How nice is that for mid-September? Some rain 24 h totals til 3 AM, catches the early yesterday storm period from some of the Pima County ALERT rain gages (a bit chopped up, sorry):
Today? Lots of incoming stuff, should be another day of major rains! (Maybe our last of the summer season. Enjoy.)
Reviewing yesterday…..
Looks like afternoon but its not; yesterday morning just after dawn:
Later that afternoon, after the morning Altocumulus clouds thinned and skies became sunny, there was explosive cloud growth over the Catalinas as the temperature recovered from our pre-dawn rains and clouds. Below, a few shots, the first three showing the transition from Cumulus congestus clouds lacking in ?????? (Answer: ice), to ones just starting to show ice in their tops (which means snow and then rain formation).
Now I am going to transition to tiny thumbnails, so you’ll have to work harder to see what I am talking about. But if you work hard, you might remember it better. Also, to help you, I have added an arrow in one shot, really going that extra mile for you today since usually I am too lazy to do that.
The Cumulus congestus clouds you see in the first couple of photos, though quite pretty, are oriented ALONG the Catalinas, not trailing over us from Mt. Ms. Lemmon. This tells you that should rain develop in these clouds over the Catalinas later on will stay ALONG the Catalinas, and not dribble over this way as it often does. That means incoming storms for us here in Catalina will be to the south, toward Pusch Ridge. Still pretty much the same today, except a bit more toward the right of Pusch Ridge, and toward Twin Peaks.
Below, another example of a cloud photo diary, pretty much like the one you should be keeping: