Distractions from disappointments; so many yesterday

Thought maybe a nice distraction from yesterday’s rain disappointment would be looking at some file boxes from the University of Washington’s Atmos. Sci. basement.  This shot taken a couple of days ago.

Enjoy thinking about what might be in these boxes, and what you would do with the contents.  Have some extra coffee, talk it over with friends, think about how much you might offer if one of these boxes was something on a quiz show, and you had one thing you knew what it was, but had to take your chances on what might be in one of these boxes1?  Or if saw them in storage locker you were bidding on.  How much?  Lots of possibilities to think about.

Taken a couple of days ago. They have stuff in them, unlike our clouds of late.

———weather part——

You started to get a bad feeling about yesterday, in spite of the juicy clouds on Samaniego Ridge, bases around 15 C, extremely warm for AZ, meaning full of extra condensed water compared to our normal clouds, when the north wind began to blow, and the temperature was struggling to go beyond 80 F.

Usually, when the cloud bases are low, it doesn’t take a LOT of heating to power them up into Cumulonimbus (Cbs) clouds because the condensation itself releases heat.  But struggling to reach 82-83 F here was just too little heat.

Late in the afternoon we did have a nice, if weak, Cb on the Cat Mountains (no thunder, of course, it was that weak).   They did get half an inch on top of Mt. Lemmon and a couple of other places, so at least SOME rain fell near us.

And, not only did we have the “juice”, high amounts of water in the atmosphere over us, but also a nice cyclonic swirl passed overhead yesterday, too, something we normally look to cluster Cumulonimbus clouds into large groupings with major rains.  From the U  of WA, you can see it go by here.

To finish off thoughts of yesterday, some mood music to go along with those thoughts, I would like you to now hear covers of “pretty songs” by the Circle Jerks.

—————————-

Here are your clouds from yesterday, I know you’ll want to see them again, mope around some more about what could have been.  We will begin our review of yesterday’s clouds with today’s morning rainbows:

6:00 AM.
6:00 AM.  Sloping rain shaft tells you that the drops are very large, rain not too heavy.
6:02 AM. Bow over the Oro.
6:02 AM. Bow over the Oro.
11:03 AM. Those oh so promising Cumulus congestus clouds lining the Catalinas!
11:03 AM. Those oh so promising Cumulus congestus clouds lining the Catalinas!
4:19 PM. Finally a Cumulus congestus that looked like it would exit the juvenile stage and mature into an adult (Cumulonimbus).
4:19 PM. Finally a Cumulus congestus that looked like it would exit the juvenile stage and mature into an adult (Cumulonimbus).
4:36 PM. And it did grow up. This is what produced the half inch on Ms. Lemmon.
4:36 PM. And it did grow up. This is what produced the half inch on Ms. Lemmon.

 

No real chance of rain now for a few days. Oh, me.

The End.

 

———-

STAR WARS AND rEAGAN
From 30 years ago or so…. Wonder what historians would say now?

1Example of a quiz show where you bit on a mystery box if you want, or take the thing that’s offered in front of you.

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.