About real clouds, weather, cloud seeding and science autobio life stories by WMO consolation prize-winning meteorologist, Art Rangno
Everything you could want in a summer rain season day except a good rain; toad finds relief in dogs’ water bowl
8:11 PM yesterday:. this surprising and humorous sight! We kept wondering why there was dirt in the dogs’ water bowl in the morning. We thought a javelina or coyote had sipped out of it. He looks pretty happy in there! But how did he get in without tipping the bowl over? He just barely fits !
Now for some disappointing weather and cloud talk…
Well, not much rain, anyway, just 0.04 hundredths here. Nice to see, though. For a time it looked like we were going to get fully shafted by that complex coming over Sam (Samaniego) Ridge around 5:30 PM AST.
On the one hand. we got to enjoy plenty of thunder and some big booms a few times, on the other, an OK rainbow as the rain crept closer on lion’s feet, some gusty winds, 25-35 mph, that blew stuff around, and on a fourth hand, an OK summer rain season sunset.
But let us begin by going back to Sunday for a moment and view an interesting contrail, an old one that looks like a version of CIrrus uncinus.
10:07 AM, Sunday, Sept. 3rd. Cirrus uncinus anthrogenitus. Yes, that’s the new name of older contrails that resemeble natural Cirrus The long hooks mean that the air was pretty close to saturation with respect to ice below the contrail, allowing the contrail tufts right behind the jet to produce long streaks before evaporating in a dryer layer below the moist one. This contrail remnant is likely more than an hour old, the oldest portion to the right, the younger portion to the left.10:07 AM Sunday, Sept. 3rd.12:09 PM. Nice to see Cumulus almost leaping off the Catalina Mountains at last, though in continuing smoky skies. Huh. “Smoky Sky.” Could be a western singer from LA, maybe Burbank.2:29 PM. Cumulus congestus stage reached!3:32 PM. The drama of lighting, not lightning, though not AS dramatic.3:32 PM. At the same time as the shadow drama, thunder is being heard from this stuff–doesn’t look well organized now. A few drops hit just after this shot.3:33 PM. A anvil crown up there! Wow. Indicates a stupendous updraft went up right over me! That’s why this little guy is producing thunder, though no real shaft came out.3:37 PM. Grew a bit AFTER passing over, of course, though still no major shaft, just an occasional rumble.4:26 PM. Weak, almost pathetic, Cumulonimbus clouds with an occasional rumble, formed over the Catalinas. The rainshafts were weak, like this one, implying not a lot of water was lifted up. Bases were cold, near the freezing is one reason, lack of size and depth, too, chipped in to create a sprinkly puff.4:40 PM. Its upwind from Sutherland Heights, but looks as weak as the prior Cbs.5:29 PM. Was inside for an hour and came out to this monster right upwind of us! Yay! CONTUS thunder, too! Wow.5:37 PM. This is looking “awesome”, finally a big dump headed our way!
5:43 PM. “Incoming! Incoming!” I wonder if the neighbors can hear me? But, wait a minute, that looks like a tinge of blue on the left over there towards Oracle. Oh, no, not a wide as thought. Wind hitting real good, though. Maybe it will push something up over us. (Nope.)6:42 PM. The day ends with collapsing Cumulonimbus clouds and their fine (that is, transparent) rainshafts.6:43 PM. The day ends with a rosy glow. Huh. Rosy Glow? Could be a name for a western singer from Tucson! Its amazing how many western singers cloud maven person can name.
U of AZ WRF-GOOFUS mod doesn’t think a shower will happen for another couple of days. Since we have Ac cas this morning, I am looking askance at that output, hoping its dead wrong!
The End
By 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.
Oh, Art: If you want rain, come up here on Friday. It’s finally in our forecast. In the meantime, we have air from Bejing again!
Hi, again, Roland,
A friend just told me that Yakutat, AK, has had 26 inches of rain in the past 26 days! Maybe a nice drive up there would quash your rain deficiency syndrome.
Continues smoky and dry here 🙁
a
It’s smoky here too ,Art. Red sun again the last 2 days. Maybe both of us should go to Yakutat!
Yep. I think so. Another smoky one today, too. Never thought I’d see this kind of thing here going on for weeks, it seems.
Oh, Art: If you want rain, come up here on Friday. It’s finally in our forecast. In the meantime, we have air from Bejing again!
Hi, again, Roland,
A friend just told me that Yakutat, AK, has had 26 inches of rain in the past 26 days! Maybe a nice drive up there would quash your rain deficiency syndrome.
Continues smoky and dry here 🙁
a
It’s smoky here too ,Art. Red sun again the last 2 days. Maybe both of us should go to Yakutat!
Yep. I think so. Another smoky one today, too. Never thought I’d see this kind of thing here going on for weeks, it seems.
a