Ugh continues in southern AZ

See for yourself:

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5:43 PM. Poor clouds (Cumulus humilis and fractus having to ingest all that smoke).
6:35 PM.
6:35 PM.  Gritty not pretty.
Smog report from the US NAVY Monterrey branch for the West.
Smog report from the US NAVY Monterrey branch for the West.  And look how bad it is in the Pac NW! (Lower right panel).

Our persistent easterly flow is dragging smoke that circulated from the Pac NW and MT fires into AZ since that smoke was circulated southward into the southern Plains States as we saw in those back trajectories from a couple of days ago.

Ten day back trajectory for 3000 m above ground level, ending yesterday at 11 AM AST. Huh.
Ten day back trajectory for 3000 m above ground level, ending yesterday at 11 AM AST. Huh.
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Ten day back trajectory for 200 m above ground level ending yesterday at 11 AM AST. Looks like some air from Houston drifted came over us. Wow, what a surprise that is!
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Ten day back trajectory for 1500 m above ground level ending yesterday at 11 AM AST. Another, “huh.”
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FOUR day back trajectory for 500 m above ground level ending yesterday at 11 AM AST. Probably pretty accurate. As you can see smoke has come all the way from the Gulf of Mexico across southern Texas to get here. Amazing. Most likely, its still smoke, though, from the widespread and numerous fires in the Pac NW and MT that drifted all the way down there before heading over here.

Some Cumulonimbus clouds are foretold to develop in the region today, more tomorrow.   This should mean some clarification of the air as the smoky air is mixed over a great depth.  Also it appears that the air will be coming from a less smoky direction, more from the south in two or three days, along with a much greater chance for significant rain, and that should help get Arizona skies back to the ones we love!

The End

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.