Unexpected ice; rain to fall in September

Like you, I did not expect to see ice-in-clouds yesterday.  I could feel your surprise when I looked to the north and saw traces of it in the exhaling part of a Cumulus congestus–like you, really didn’t think I’d see clouds that large, either.  But there the ice was.

Later, it was even more obvious, and a fat cell even developed up there toward Globe in mid-afternoon.  Didn’t expect to see one so close.

Also, did you catch the cluster of Cumulonimbi on the north horizon at sunrise?  That was an unexpected sight for you and me as well.

I wonder, too,  if you were down at Steam Pump and Oracle you noticed that a few drops of rain fell? That was really unbelievable, since it was practically clear overhead when I exited the PF gym and saw them on the car I had just washed and waxed in the belief that no rain could fall for at least 10 days.  Yes, it was a day of surprises for both of us.

Didn’t think I’d be bloggin’ today, either.  Life has so many unexpected twists and turns.

Yesterday’s clouds

6:05 AM. Unexpected sighting number 1.
6:05 AM. Unexpected sighting number 1: Dawn Cumulonimbi up there toward the Mogollon Rim.
11:37 AM. Unexpected sighting number two, ice. See far right frizzy, smooth area in "exhaust" part of Cu.
11:07 AM. Unexpected sighting number two, ice!  See center right frizzy, smooth area in “exhaust” part of Cu.
11:37 AM. Unexpected sighting #3: Didn't think those turrets could extrude so far into the extremely dry air above those tops, but there it is, extruding like anything. (Center right). Also note the ice in the lower tops, left center, and the hint of a rain shaft! Unbelievable.
11:37 AM. Unexpected sighting #3: Didn’t think those turrets could extrude so far into the extremely dry air above those tops, but there it is, extruding like anything. (Center right). Also note the ice in the lower tops, left center, and the hint of a rain shaft! Unbelievable.  The dark blob at left in mid-air, obscuring a portion of the cloud, is a pipevine swallowtail butterfly that surprised me by flying into the frame as I snapped the photo.  Yesterday may have been the most surprising day of my life, maybe yours, too.
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2:18 PM. “USN4”: This gargantuan cell up there by Globe. Unbelievable that a cell this big was so close to our area considering all the dry air that was moving in.

 

2:28 PM. A surprisingly thin turret that has gone completely to ice (right side). The extruding turret on the left, certainly would have some ice in it, but also, as you can see from its texture, has a lot of liquid cloud droplets in it, too. This is a nice example of the glaciation cycle in a small cloud.
2:28 PM. A surprisingly thin turret that has gone completely to ice (right side). The extruding turret on the left, certainly would have some ice in it, but also, as you can see from its texture, has a lot of liquid cloud droplets in it, too. This is a nice example of the glaciation cycle in a small cloud.

 

3:40 PM. Showers, and likely some thunder out there, just a few miles N of the Biosphere 2 facility. A pretty scene since the blue of the sky is darker now as the sun's elevation sinks toward the winter solstice.
3:40 PM. Showers, and likely some thunder out there, just a few miles N of the Biosphere 2 facility. A pretty scene since the blue of the sky is darker now as the sun’s elevation sinks toward the winter solstice.

 

3:48 PM. Thunder beyond the Lemmon. The turret on the left has converted to all ice, while the mounding ones in the center and right, still have some liquid cloud droplets. The soft-serve look, compared to the crenellations of droplet clouds is due to the differences in concentrations. There are always few ice particle concentrations than droplet concentrations so droplet clouds look thicker, have sharper edges, more detail, but, we've been over this more than a few times. Sorry to belabor the point.
3:48 PM. Thunder beyond the Lemmon. The turret on the left has converted to all ice, while the mounding one in the center, still has some liquid cloud droplets. The “soft-serve” look on the left, compared to the crenelations of droplet clouds, in particular, that darker turret in the center, is due to the differences in concentrations between the two phases. There are always fewer ice particle concentrations than droplet concentrations in clouds, and so droplet clouds look thicker, have sharper edges, more detail.   But, we’ve been over this more than a few times. Sorry to belabor the point.

The weather way ahead

Mods continuing to show rain in our area sometime between the 6th and 12th of September, which would result in a non-rainless September. Sometimes, those mods think its due to a tropical storm remnant of a tropical storm that hasn’t formed yet. So, its quite mystical, that rain.
Still, the indications are that some rain will return after the long dry spell ahead.

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.