Snow and golf; a brief tirade, and yesterday’s clouds and why

I smiled seeing the groundskeepers scurrying about, sweeping and scraping snow off the courses and environs at the Dove Mountain golf tournament yesterday.   I was smiling because the golf culture here is so different from that in Seattle, Washington, much more “pampering” here.   Due to frequent inclement weather in Seattle, we have to toughen our skins against weather if we want to play golf.  Rain?  Snow?  No problem.

In Seattle, golf season begins on March 1st.  That’s because in March in Seattle, its only raining (or occasionally snowing) on every other day by then, not every day, as earlier in the winter.

So we’re going golfing on March 1st, dammitall, no matter what!

So shop keepers like this one below on Aurora Avenue in the north end of Seattle, knowing that Seattle golf culture, exult with big signs like this one when March 1st arrives!

The golf weather culture in Seattle, Washington as represented by this sign.
The golf weather culture in Seattle, Washington, as represented by this sign.  Photo  by the writer, March 1st, 1990.

Inaccuracy in media re Catalina snowfall or maybe it wasn’t: a tirade

I was thinking that maybe a tirade would be a nice change of pace for you before some cloud discussions.

First, since I heard a weather presenter report that “2 inches” of snow fell in Catalina, a visual correction to that report.  There was FOUR inches on the ground after settling/melting during the day and night of the 20-21st.  If there is FOUR inches the following morning, it HAD to have snowed quite a bit MORE than FOUR inches! (The total depth of snow that fell was 5.5 inches here on Wilds Road).

Here is the proof, 4 inches of depth as measured by a raingauge dip stick, one tenth inch markers are 1 inch in length–I didn’t have a regular ruler.  Some of the labels indicating light amounts of rain have worn off while the stick was being used in Seattle for 32 years, so you’ll have to count down from the 1.00, 90, 80 hundredths labels, ones clearly visible.  For added proof I have added a second photo, and if you call now, you’ll get a third photo free plus for $75 for handling and shipping…

8:41 AM, February 21st. A raingauge measuring stick protrudes from a FOUR-inch depth of snow on a hitching post (where some snow could have even slipped off, or blew off!)
7:02 AM, February 21st. A raingauge measuring stick protrudes from a FOUR-inch depth of snow on a hitching post (where some snow could have even slipped off, or blew off!)
7:04 AM. A slightly higher depth on a second hitching post--oh, yeah, leading the big western life here in Arizony.
7:04 AM. A slightly higher depth on a second hitching post–oh, yeah, leading the big western life here in Arizony with a horse and hitching posts.

I felt sad, though, remembering the words of humorist Dave Barry, speaking to the National Press Club back in ’91 I think it was, when he diverged from humor into a serious note, admonishing his Press Club Audience:  “Why can’t we get it right?1”

Maybe in our case of the missing snow, it was because the person that called in the report was not a Cloud Maven Junior, and did not know how to measure snow.  Maybe less actually fell where that person was (unlikely).  Let us not forget that the snow on a flat board in Sutherland Heights, above Catalina proper, measured at nearly the same time as this, was SIX inches!

Yesterday’s clouds, and those snow-covered mountains

While it was sad to see so much snow disappear so fast, it was, overall, another gorgeous day in a long nearly continuous series of ones since the beginning of time here in Arizona, except maybe for those days of upheavals and dinosaurs and then when it was underwater, a remnant of the latter epoch as shown here in this fossil of a hydrosaurus, a precursor to grain eating critters like the Perissodactylas we have today…(horseys and such).  As you can see, the teeth here were for eating something like mueslix, not for ripping flesh.  I can’t believe all the information I am providing you today!

Possible hydrosaurus fossil encountered on a hike in Catalina State Park. Finding was reported to park rangers.
Possible hydrosaurus fossil encountered on a hike in Catalina State Park (still checking on what it is). Finding was reported to park rangers.

 

Here are some shots with some notes on them or in the captions.  First those MOUNTAINS!

8:21 AM, February 20th, looking east from Sutherland Heights, which had SIX INCHES of snow on the ground at this time.
8:21 AM, February 20th, looking east from Sutherland Heights, which had SIX INCHES of snow on the ground at this time. Stratocumulus clouds top Samaniego Ridge.
9:13 AM. THe snowy Tortolita Mountains with some Altocumulus perlucidus above.
9:13 AM. The snowy Tortolita Mountains with some Altocumulus perlucidus above.

 

2:25 PM. With most of the snow already gone around Catalina, the majestic Catalina Mountains remind us of our great snowstorm and why we live here.
2:25 PM. With most of the snow already gone around Catalina, the majestic Catalina Mountains remind us of our great February 20th snowstorm and why we live here.

 

2:26 PM. While it was serene-looking over the Catalinas, to the southwest the sky was filling in with Cumulus and slightly higher Stratocumulus clouds. Why don't you see virga even though we know they are at below freezing temperatures? In unison: NO ICE!
2:26 PM. While it was serene-looking over the Catalinas, to the southwest the sky was filling in with Cumulus and slightly higher Stratocumulus clouds. Why don’t you see virga even though we know they are at below freezing temperatures? In unison: “NO ICE!”  (Tops too warm and cloud droplets likely on the small side.)  This was to change in the next couple of hours.

 

3:24 PM. But first, another look at the Catalinas from Shroeder Ave because I think its worth it before continuing.
3:24 PM. But first, another look at the Catalinas from Shroeder Ave in Catalina because I think its worth it before continuing.  Golder Ranch Drive is on the far left.

 

5:25 PM. Clearly there has been a change in the temperatures at the tops of these clouds, likely now colder than -10 C. A trough of colder air was approaching aloft, and that likely lifted and cooled cloud tops. The cloud layer was due mostly to the spreading out of Cumulus tops (Stratocumulus cumulogenitus). The TUS sounding indicated cloud tops were around -12 C, capped by a very strong stable layer.
5:25 PM. Clearly there has been a change in the temperatures at the tops of these clouds, likely now colder than -10 C. A trough of colder air was approaching aloft, and that likely lifted and cooled cloud tops. The cloud layer was due mostly to the spreading out of Cumulus tops (Stratocumulus cumulogenitus). The TUS sounding indicated cloud tops were about -13 C, capped by a very strong stable layer.  There was a fall of sparse drops around this time, so some of it was getting to the ground.

 The weather ahead

Cold then HOT.  Hot when?  Heat’s on already by March 1st for sure.  Look at this “signal” in our trusty NOAA “ensembles of spaghetti” from last night:

Ann March 1st 5 PM AST spag_f192_nhbg
Valid for 5 PM AST, March 1st. You won’t see a signal stronger than this one for 8 days from now. Likely will reach into the 80s when this ridge of warm air is fully developed.

The End, at last.  Anyone still there?

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1Deadlines have a way of getting in the way of “truth.”

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.