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Mysterious object flies under clouds before storm drops 1.00 inch of rain on Sutherland Heights

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Again, a cheap appeal to gain readers, this time to UFO folks that might drop by this site to investigate a possible sighting, raising number of visits to above 2 per day….

The CoCoRahs gauge had 1.00 inches, the NWS gauge, 0.97 inches, but the online Davis tipping bucket gauge had a serious undercatch due to wind and high rain rate, reporting only 0.80 inches.

If you live in this area, you were treated to quite a nice spectacle, one that happens only a few times a summer here.  A non-precipitating cloud lingers and grows almost directly overhead, at first not looking like much, but broadens and darkens, and then the hole opens up to empty  all the water up there.   If you saw this spectacle, and you saw the first signs of the plug being removed, the appearance of the long, dark column (compare to “The Thin Blue Line”).  Having anticipated this very event by standing around doing nothing for awhile, the correct thing to emote as a cloud-maven junior, is, “Oh yeah, baby!  Come and get me!”  I could feel the joy out there as this was happening!

At this point you have about 1 minute to tell your neighbors they are going to get smashed.  There was some thunder up there before the plug came open, telling you how deep the cloud was above the base; it wasn’t faking as can happen.     Of course, at this point, if you had radar, you would have seen an echo up there before the opening occurring, but that would be cheating.

I think our big black cloud that cried (compare to the little white cloud that cried song) was the result of wind from storms southwest of us colliding with a light NW wind right here.  And with little strength in the guiding winds aloft,  it sat over us for a longer time than usual.

Got some nice wind out of it, too, as the rain shaft, aided by evaporation, slammed down on Catalina/Sutherland Heights,  pushing hot air out of the way, scattering chairs and cushions all over, kind of a mess really, but it was worth it.

But before I continue with this interesting and dramatic story of our storm, I wish to report that I was distracted by what initially appeared to be floating “trash” just before the storm, tumbling around up there at least a few hundred feet off the ground, and south bound, performing maneuvers that perhaps were not human.  It went near the ground and then back up again, did some crazy things1.

I did not see evidence of other trash or a whirlwind or “dustnado” adding to the mystery.  First, I think we can rule out the most obvious explanation, that it was a party balloon with just enough helium in it to stay afloat, just drifting along in the wind and revealing all the turbulent eddies one might find on a day with Cumulus clouds….  That’s, of course, is what they would want us to think….

2:07 PM. A piece of trash is seen racing toward the ground, but then goes back up!
2:07 PM. A piece of trash is seen racing toward the ground, but then goes back up!
2:08 PM. The "trash" has ascended a couple hundred feet.
2:08 PM. The “trash” has ascended a couple hundred feet.
2:11 PM. After losing sight of the "trash" it reappears underneath this cloud base. Later, the cloud rain a little.
2:08 PM. After losing sight of the “trash” it reappears underneath this cloud base. Later, the cloud rain a little.  It began to look more like an asteroid here, something from outer space.
2:11 PM. The mysterious object continued on its trajectory toward possibly Mexico!
2:11 PM. The mysterious object continued on its trajectory toward the south possibly Mexico with whatever cargo it might have contained.

Now, continuing on to our storm story….

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3:43 PM. A larger cloud base begins taking shape over and NW of the Cat Mountains. Here’s where you should have begun paying close attention. No rumbles at this point. Note how offensive overland wiring is.  This is a blight I thought I should show you.
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3:50 PM. Now this is getting real exciting! Look at the size of that base! While there have been a few duds of this size, this is really looking good. What happens in a “dud”? Instead of having a nice solid dark base, light and dark spots start to appear, and you want to cry. Didn’t happen yesterday.
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3:51 PM. Focusing in on darkness and solidified base, indicating a nice solid updraft is feeding the cloud above here. The appearance of light and dark mottling would have indicated that the updraft is weakening, breaking up.  (From the cloud base collection:  yours for $800 today only.)
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3:57 PM. I am beside myself, snapping photos left and right, out of control, hard drive will surely overflow. But just look at how portentious it looks now. Now you’re looking for the opening, the drain, the spigot, the water fall, and be amazed at how much water can drain from a cloud in a short time.
4:01 PM. Thar she blows! One of the great moments in weather is be under the shaft emergence. And there it is at last!
4:01 PM. Thar she blows! One of the great moments in weather is be under the shaft emergence. And there it is at last!
4:01 Zoomed to hole in sky; fallout in progress. 30 s later than prior photo. You just cannot imagine how exciting this is, with lightning forking around, too.
4:01 Zoomed to hole in sky; fallout in progress. 30 s later than prior photo. You just cannot imagine how exciting this is, with lightning forking around, too.
4:08 PM. I'm in the house now, note reflection. Lightning too close and vicious. Didn't take long to close down after "the hole" did it?
4:08 PM. I’m in the house now, note reflection. Lightning too close and vicious. Didn’t take long to close down after “the hole” did it?  The big Sutherland Heights burst hit starting now.

Some damage shots after the wind and gush of rain:

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Example of flooding (in a swale for that). Sometimes toads appear.
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Example of damage due to wind. I had to move the chair back onto the porch, wash sand off.

Then there was a lot of lightning toward Romero Canyon, a cloud to ground strike every few seconds.  Really was quite amazing:

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Some rainfall reports for the Catalina area on the morning of the 19th:

Precipitation Report for the following time periods ending at: 03:04:00  07/19/16
  Gauge    15         1           3          6            24         Name                        Location
    ID#      minutes    hour        hours      hours        hours
    —-     —-       —-        —-       —-         —-       —————–            ———————
Catalina Area
    1010     0.00       0.00       0.00        0.00         0.08      Golder Ranch   Horseshoe Bend Rd in Saddlebrooke
    1020     0.00       0.00       0.00        0.00         0.00      Oracle RS  0.5 mi SW of Oracle
    1040     0.00       0.00       0.00        0.00         0.47      Dodge Tank  Edwin Rd 1.3 mi E of Lago DO Parkway
    1050     0.00       0.00       0.00        0.04         0.16      Cherry Spring about 1.5 mi W of Charouleau Gap
    1060     0.00       0.00       0.00        0.00         0.12      Pig Spring  about 1.1 mi NE of Charouleau Gap
    1070     0.00       0.00       0.00        0.00         1.34      Cargodera Canyon  NE corner of Catalina State Park
    1080     0.00       0.00       0.00        0.00         0.00      CDO @ Rancho Solano  CDO Wash NE of S-brooke
    1100     0.00       0.00       0.00        0.00         0.67      CDO @ Golder Rd  CDO Wash at Golder Ranch Rd
Santa Catalina Mountains
    1030     0.00       0.00       0.00        0.00         0.24      Oracle Ridge  about 1.5 mi N of Rice Peak
    1090     0.00       0.00       0.00        0.00         1.02      Mt. Sara Lemmon
    1110     0.00       0.00       0.00        0.00         0.16      CDO @ Coronado Camp  0.3 mi S of Coronado Camp
    1130     0.00       0.00       0.00        0.00         0.35      Samaniego Peak
    1140     0.00       0.00       0.00        0.00         0.55      Dan Saddle  on Oracle Ridge
2150     0.00       0.00       0.00        0.00         0.59      White Tail   Catalina Hwy 0.8 mi W of Palisade RS
    2280     0.00       0.00       0.00        0.00         0.00      Green Mountain
    2290     0.00       0.00       0.00        0.00         1.54      Marshall Gulch   Sabino Creek 0.6 mi SSE of Marshall Gulch

The End

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1Remember when you were a kid and when you saw trash up high, you knew there was a whirlwind around and you looked for it so you could jump in it?  Those were the days, weren’t they?

4 thoughts on “Mysterious object flies under clouds before storm drops 1.00 inch of rain on Sutherland Heights”

  1. And your temperature dropped 30 degrees F in just one hour from 100 F to 70 F! And 23 F of that temperature drop occurred in just 20 minutes.

    1. I had not noticed the exact fall of the temperature, but it almost seemed cold outside! Nice change from the 50 days of June we’ve had….

      1. Gee, Mike, nice of you to drop by… I’m honored. I was late getting that blog in because WP wasn’t taking my images, over and over again. Then I got in a foul mode and couldn’t finish the humorous side of it until much later, that is, linking a balloon floating by to a big rain afterward, creating a false suspicion of some dark, alien force at work.

        Actually what the balloon told me, in going southbound likely due to outflow from a shower to the N, was that MAYBE that N wind would clash with the outflows from the south. There were some showers down west Tucson way.
        That MAY have been what excited the nice dark base and buildup just about overhead of me just before the dump.
        —————
        Well, you know its easy to get those daytime shots When you have multiple flashes down the same channel. Some storms are so electrified there can be quite a few of those as the storm occurs and that’s what happened that day.
        I’m using the camera’s manual mode (autofocus will take too long) and usually around 1/1000 of a second. As soon as I see the flash, I snap, and if I am lucky, there are several strikes that follow the first one, and, voila, I get one.

        a, kinda depressed about this summer and the winter/spring Big Niño disappointment. How long can disappointment go on?

  2. How did you get those daytime lightning shots? Burst mode maybe? Perhaps you have super human reflexes.

    It is amazing how much water comes out when the plug gets pulled.
    Mike

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