As per my photographic niche, I began to capture some promising bottoms of clouds yesterday afternoon around 2 PM. The first shot shows a promising cloud (so-so sized Cumulus congestus) drifting westward over Mt. Sara Lemmon. The next shots show the progression in the appearance of the bottom (my specialty) before the dump truck was emptied. Nice! Its always satisfying to document the bottoms of clouds BEFORE the dump truck is unloaded. Before it was over, visibility was momentarily less than 50 yards in swirling winds and blinding rain. Unbelievable moment. According to our tipping bucket gage, rain rates got up 8.4 inches per hour at that peak moment. (The record, Btw, is over 12 inches actually recorded in less than an hour in Missouri!). A few minutes after the last photo is when the rain started.
Well, it was a great rain, and the desert veggies seemed to respond to this one event by propping themselves up overnight and looking noticeably greener.
