“Just another day”, pretty much like the day before

Just Another Day“, btw, one of the many great songs by Oingo Boingo, if you’ve ever heard of them.  We’re not just about clouds here.  Trying to broaden your pop cultural knowledge with distractions like this.

Yesterday was remarkable  in how exact it was to the day before in clouds, but ultimately disappoiting.1  There was supposed to be more cloud action, shafting around, that kind of thing, but there wasn’t.  It was virtually identical in every way, including having only two clouds that got high and cold enough to have ice in them. I am sure you recorded them in your cloud diary, and this will be a little tedious as a result, but….what the HECK.

Here is your cloud day for yesterday, focusing on the detection of ice in clouds:

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1:15 PM. Not much going on.
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1:17 PM. Not much going on.
2:44 PM.
2:44 PM.  Not much going on, but nice cloud street.
3:23 PM.  Suddenly,  a narrow erection of cloud shot out of the larger Cumulus mediocris/congestus.  Would it form ice?  I was thinking so, and with that, maybe a rain shaft that could disrupt the wind field and trigger more buildups.  "Here we go," I was thinking, as you were as well.
3:13 PM. Suddenly, an erection of cloud (center at top)  shot out of the larger Cumulus mediocris/congestus. Would it form ice? I was thinking so, and with that, maybe a rain shaft that could disrupt the wind field and trigger more buildups. “Here we go,” I was thinking, as you were as well.
3:14 PM,  Looks pretty firm yet.  No indication of ice.
3:14 PM, Looks pretty firm yet. No indication of ice.  But definitely a few thousand feet higher  and colder than the surrounding cloud.
3:15:30.  Beginning to soften and fall back!  No sign of ice.  Those ragged edges represent the intrusion of dry air into the cloud called "entrainment."  Entrainment is less as the cloud shoots upward and contains vortex rings.  Worried now that this turret was not as high as initially perceived.
3:15:30. Beginning to soften and fall back! No sign of ice. Those ragged edges represent the intrusion of dry air into the cloud called “entrainment.” Entrainment is less as the cloud shoots upward and contains vortex rings. Worried now that this turret was not as high as initially perceived.
3:17 PM.  Stepping back and looking at the whole cloud, the top has been disconnected from the bottom by very dry air between where the top is now, and the lower part of the cloud.  Entrainment has beheaded this cloud!  And, no sign of ice...yet.
3:17 PM. Stepping back and looking at the whole cloud, the top has been disconnected from the bottom by very dry air between where the top is now, and the lower part of the cloud. Entrainment has beheaded this cloud! And, no sign of ice…yet.
3:18 PM.  Not much good up there, with no body, but ice is now visible, and is likely forming, as more of the cloud head evaporates.
3:18 PM. Not much good up there, with no body, but ice is now visible, and is likely forming, as more of the cloud head evaporates.  See that faint ice  veil below the head?
3:21 PM.  I am sure you can see the wisps of ice that this turret contained quite easily now.  Won't do much good decapitated like that.  Huh?  "Decapitated."  Seem to be on a religious theme today.
3:21 PM. I am sure you can see the wisps of ice that this turret contained quite easily now. Ice won’t do much good being decapitated like that with no cloud body to fall through and grow.. “Decapitated.”  Huh?  Seem to be on a religious theme today.  Must be due to that article I read in the Atlantic recently.
3:30 PM.  Twin towers, but like the one over Catalina, it faded into oblivion.
3:30 PM. Twin towers, and like the one over Catalina, it faded into oblivion after getting a little higher than ours, forming more ice.
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4:13 PM. Ever hopeful, but no, never  saw no ice from this tall boy,  phrasing here mindful of that classic new  old folk song, “Never did no wanderin’ ” by The Folksmen.
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7:26 PM. Nice storms elsewhere. Here, looking NE-E.

Today is another day.  More hope for a shower late today or tomorrow, models say, then likely another dry spell as the summer rain season ebbs again for awhile until that possible super hurricane Dolores drags some moisture up this way.  (Dolores, now just a tropical storm, was just born off southern Mexico near the coast.  Will be interesting to see just how strong she gets.

The End

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1Some fans  like to see misspelled words here.  Amyone see that criminal who was sentenced to “life in person” as described in the AZ Star?  That was pretty grate.

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.