Icy up top

You won’t find such small Cumulus so full of it as they were yesterday very often.  But with cloud bottoms and tops as cold as -15 C (5 F) and -25 C (-13 F), respectively, it was bound to happen.  Cloud bottoms were located at 16,000 feet Above Sea Level (ASL), or about 13,000 feet above the ground above Catalina.  That was a LONG way for a melted snowflake to fall, though it did appear that some sprinkles may have reached the ground toward Tucson town later yesterday afternoon and during the early evening.  I was driving down into Tucson to see friends play in a band1 at the appropriately named, “Nimbus2 Brewery” and saw those clouds up pretty close as I went.

Here’s the late afternoon sounding for yesterday, providing the backdrop for those icy clouds, as rendered by the Cowboys of Wyoming3:

The temperature and dewpoint profile above Tucson, measured between about 3:30 PM and 4 PM AST yesterday afternoon. Balloon making these measurements rises about 1,000 feet a minute.
The temperature and dewpoint profile above Tucson, measured between about 3:30 PM and 4 PM AST yesterday afternoon. The balloon making these measurements rises about 1,000 feet a minute.

 

Here’s your cloud diary for yesterday, starting with a shot of some wildflowers taken while being bored waiting for the icy Cumulus mentioned yesterday to develop:DSC_0047

9:53 AM. By 9:52 AM, boredom had turned to worry, "Where were the Cumulus?!!", until 9:53 AM when I saw this and could relax, have a cup of coffee or something, lay around worry free.
9:53 AM. By 9:52 AM, boredom had turned to worry; “Where were the Cumulus clouds?!! Was I going to be wrong again?”, until one minute later, 9:53 AM, when I saw this one and could relax, have a cup of coffee or something, lay around pretty worry free.  You might need a telescope to see that Cumulus cloud…

 

11:48 AM. Almost 2 h later, the Cumulus are piling up toward Saddlebrook. Feeling great now, though we don't have any ice showing yet. Recall that even these little guys are about -15 C (5 F) at their bases. maybe a little warmer because the bases get higher (colder) as the afternoon wears on.
11:48 AM. Almost 2 h later, the Cumulus are really piling up toward Saddlebrook. Feeling great now, though we don’t have any ice showing yet. Recall that even these little guys are about -15 C (5 F) at their bases,  maybe a little warmer because the bases get higher (colder) as the afternoon wears on.

 

3:19 PM. Pretty typical of the afternoon hours; tremendous amounts of ice originating in Cumulus clouds maybe but 2,000 feet thick at this time.
3:19 PM. Pretty typical of the afternoon hours; tremendous amounts of ice (frizzy areas) originating in Cumulus clouds maybe but 2,000 feet thick at this time.

 

4:23 PM. Cumulus really piling up over Saddlebrook now, quickly converting from droplet clouds to ice clouds.
4:23 PM. Cumulus really piling up over Saddlebrook now, the larger ones quickly converting from droplet clouds to ice clouds.
6:18 PM. Looking S along Oracle Road at some pretty heavy virga. A drop or two may gotten to the ground below that one puff (all snow at this point up there). Clouds likely got to 3 or 4 K thick here. From the "Not taken while driving" (because that would be crazy) collection though at first glance it looks like it.
6:18 PM. Looking S along Oracle Road at some pretty heavy virga. A drop or two may gotten to the ground below that one puff (all snow at this point up there). Clouds likely got to 3 or 4 K thick here. From the “Not taken while driving” (because that would be crazy) collection though at first glance it does look like it.

 

6:35 PM. That heavy virga made for some nice sunset scenes, though this is not one of them.
6:35 PM. That heavy virga made for some nice sunset scenes, though this is not one of them.

The clouds ahead

Not much weather ahead besides excessive warmth, but, a nice surge of middle and high clouds this coming Friday and Saturday (12th and 13th), maybe some sprinkles.

The End.

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1Randy Prentice Band,  perhaps the most eclectic collection of folks that has ever been in a rock band, featuring famous photographer, Randy Prentice on lead guitar and vocals, and African grey parrot and Pima County residential appraising expert, Dr. Diana May, on bass and vocals.  Paul Daniels drums away and also sings; probably has a Ph. D., too.

2“Nimbus”, which means rain,  is not a cloud of itself but is an appendage applied to clouds, like Cumulonimbus, or Nimbostratus.  Why would a weatherman go anywhere else?

3Shouldn’t WE be the “Cowboys”, as in University of Arizona Cowboys? Don’t we have more of them, at least folks who ride horses than Wyoming, a state where hardly anybody lives, but they’re quite happy anywaya for some reason? And is the moniker we have now, one that refers to feral cats that great?

I can’t believe how many footnotes I’ve put in already and I’m only on the first 10 lines or so!  Better slowdown, go easy on the readers, though those many footnotes do give the “piece” an ersatz academic aura.

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aOBJECTIVE HAPPINESS BY STATE 001  I inserted this once before a long time ago, but thought you should read it again.  Folks in WY are happier than folks in AZ, it says.  See state listings.

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.