Raining in puddle just ahead, but not on car; also, a horse picture

This was amazing.  I approach one of the puddles on Equestrian Trail.  I see that its raining HARD in the puddle.  I am only 20 feet from it, but its not raining on my car!  Here’s what that scene looked like:

3:26 PM. Equestrian Trail road puddle outbound from Sutherland Heights.
3:26 PM. Equestrian Trail road puddle outbound from Sutherland Heights.

How could this be?  Of course, we’ve all seen heavy rain on the road and drove into it.  But the illusion here that was so striking is that it only SEEMED to be raining in the puddle, not around it since the drop splashes were not obvious as I drove up to it.

The rest of yesterday was pretty great, too, lots of rainbows, brilliant clouds and skies, too photogenic for a neurotic-compulsive photographer.  However, one of 221 photos was of a human, a neighbor, not of clouds and rain shafts.

Here are a few too many cloud photos; excess is kind of a specialty of mine:

6:25 AM.
6:25 AM.
DSC_1195
6:25 AM.

 

6:25 AM. Unloading.
6:25 AM. Unloading.
6:26 AM.
6:26 AM.

DSC_1210

DSC_1211

7:40 AM.
7:40 AM.
11:58 AM. Cumulonimbus cloud boils upward upwind of Catalina.
11:58 AM. Cumulonimbus cloud boils upward upwind of Catalina.
12:25 PM. Getting closer....
12:25 PM. Getting closer….
12:51 PM. Lightning strikes not that close...
12:51 PM. Lightning strikes not that close…Hail up to pea size, though.
1:10 PM. Backside of storm looked pretty good, too, quite firm and protuberant. Note whitish fallstreak, likely graupel and or hail.
1:10 PM. Backside of storm looked pretty good, too, quite firm and protuberant, indicating updraft still intact. Note whitish fallstreak, likely graupel and or hail.
1:10 PM. Horse exults over extra rain.
1:10 PM. Horse exults over extra rain.
1:43 PM. Crepuscular rays due to rain, not haze. A pretty scene sez me.
1:43 PM. Crepuscular rays due to rain, not haze. A pretty scene sez me.
2:18 PM. Another dramatic scene.
2:18 PM. Another dramatic scene.
2:36 PM. Biosphere 2 hit by light rainbow.
2:36 PM. Biosphere 2 hit by light rainbow.
2:42 PM. For the sharp-eyed, bit of arcus cloud below Cumulus bases shows the northwest wind and cold front about to hit Catalina. Hit over there by Marana first. Was minutes away here.
2:42 PM. For the sharp-eyed, bit of arcus cloud below Cumulus bases shows the northwest wind and cold front about to hit Catalina. Hit over there by Marana first. Was minutes away here.
2:46 PM. Something akin to an arcus cloud is just about on Catalina. Remember, the shift of the wind precedes the cloud, and lifts the air above it. Did you notice how the whole sky began to fill in with clouds as the windshift hit and for the hours after that? Pretty cool, huh?
2:46 PM. Something akin to an arcus cloud is just about on Catalina. Remember, the shift of the wind precedes the cloud, and lifts the air above it. Did you notice how the whole sky began to fill in with clouds as the windshift hit and for the hours after that? Pretty cool, huh?
3:56 PM. Awful dark out for this time of day. And yet another rainbow! Is this Hawaii, or WHAT? Rainbow colors end where snow is falling, not rain.
3:56 PM. Awful dark out for this time of day. And yet another rainbow! Is this Hawaii, or WHAT? Rainbow colors end where snow is falling, not rain.

 

4:05 PM. Day closes with more storms drifting toward Catalina.
4:05 PM. Day closes with more storms drifting toward Catalina.
Lightly looking ahead

Still a lot of “troughy” weather ahead, and chance for decent November rains in the first half of the month after cold one goes by, followed by a short dry spell.

The End.

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.

One thought on “Raining in puddle just ahead, but not on car; also, a horse picture”

  1. Hi Art: have you ever come across a phenomena known as “point rainfall”? That is, rain that falls in a very localized area. I saw that happen once here in my neighbourhood. While it wasn’t literally a “point” in size (I estimated it was about the size of a football field) it was happening in front of my eyes, and it was fairly intense.

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