While waiting for the rain….

Started to rain here in at 3:45 AM…have 0.01 inches so far. :{

So far in AZ, Flagstaff area leading the way Statewide with about 0.90 inches.  You can check out those amounts in real time here from the USGS, and here for Pima County.  Also you can look at those amounts reported in real time at PWSs (personal weather stations) throughout Arizona on the Weather Underground “Wundermaps” as this exciting, much awaited day develops.

Point forecasts from the U of AZ  “Beowulf “for today, based on 11 PM AST data, here.  (Graphical version not yet completed.)  You’ll see that a mighty amount of over 4 inches of water content is forecast for the top of the Lemmon (Summerhaven) from this storm. These calcs are usually a little high, but even 2 inches would be fabulous up there.  Catalina, per se, does not appear in the point location list, but Oro Valley is expected to get around half an inch.  We should do better than that here in Catalina/Sutherland Heights.

———-SC rain doings———

Forecast “10 in 24” at Opids Camp; got about 8, same for favored locations in Ventura County.  Working on 10 for storm there as I write; another round of pounding rain moving into the LA Basin now.  NWS tornado warning for east central LA expires at 4 AM today.  (They saw rotation in a severe thunderstorm around Covina earlier this morning.)

BTW, go here to see how excited the Los Angeles branch of the NWS is today.  You’ll see that their domain is a kaleidoscope of colors for warnings and advisories of all kinds!  Ninety five percent of the time, they really don’t have that much to forecast in southern California, pretty boring really, so this is a great time for them to show their stuff, be excited,  “show the colors.” (Me, too!)

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Some of yesterday’s cloud scenes

6:46 AM. Sunrise on the Gap.
6:46 AM. Sunrise on the C-Gap.
6:57 AM. Two levels of ice clouds, an rare site. The darker on just above the mountains is some icy remnant of an Altocumulus cloud that converted to ice. The whiter clouds are at Cirrus levels, likely some spot of droplets before almost instantly glaciating. The different colors give away the different heights, and also the difference in movement; one level moving relative to the other tells you this, too.
6:57 AM. Two levels of ice clouds, an rare site. The darker on just above the mountains is some icy remnant of an Altocumulus cloud that converted to ice. The whiter clouds are at Cirrus levels, likely some spot of droplets before almost instantly glaciating. The different colors give away the different heights, and also the difference in movement; one level moving relative to the other tells you this, too.
8:37 AM. Micro-versions of Cirrus uncinus suddenly blossomed overhead; almost missed 'em. What was unusual was how tall the vertical parts were with tiny hooks at the bottom. That vertical part indicates a layer of air with no wind shear, a phenomenon almost always observed at cloud tops. The wind shear may have been "mixed out" by the up and down motions associated with cloud formation and dissipation.
8:37 AM. Microversions of Cirrus uncinus suddenly blossomed overhead; almost missed ’em. What was unusual was how tall the vertical parts were with tiny hooks at the bottom. That vertical part indicates a layer of air with no wind shear, a phenomenon almost always observed at cloud tops. The wind shear may have been “mixed out” by the up and down motions associated with cloud formation and dissipation.
8:37 AM. Close up view of those tiny Ci unc.
8:37 AM. Close up view of those tiny Ci unc.
9:12 AM. Webby Cirrus. Has no official name that I know of.
9:12 AM. “Webby” Cirrus. Has no official name that I know of.
9:35 AM. Though the natural sky is slightly marred by a contrail, in general it was a thing of beauty all morning in particular with the high visibility, complex goings on in the cloud structure, deep blue sky with moderate breezes and temperatures in the 70s. Here, more of that "webby" Cirrus, and on the horizon, the rarely seen Cirrus castellanus which I report seeing almost every week here in AZ.
9:35 AM. Though the natural sky is slightly marred by a contrail, in general it was a thing of beauty all morning in particular with the high visibility, complex goings on in the cloud structure, deep blue sky, moderate breezes and temperatures in the 70s. This view, toward the Charouleau Gap, shows more of that “webby” Cirrus, and on the horizon, left of center, the rarely seen Cirrus castellanus which I report seeing almost every week here in AZ.
10:37 AM. Less complicated Cirrus fibratus patches moved in, followed by the development of small Cumulus clouds. Still very pretty though.
10:37 AM. Less complicated Cirrus fibratus/uncinus patches moved in, followed by the development of small Cumulus clouds. Still very pretty though.
2:50 PM. Your afternoon. The Cirrus thickened into a solid layer with gray, transitioning to Altostratus with these small Cumulus ("humilis") below.
2:50 PM. Your afternoon. The Cirrus thickened into a solid layer with gray, transitioning to Altostratus with these small Cumulus (“humilis”) below.  TYpically thickening is due to the bottoms of clouds lowering (in this case, where the ice crystals falling out evaporate is perceived as cloud base) while the top stays about the same height.  As the air moistens during the approach of a storm, the crystals fall farther toward the ground and the cloud thickens downward.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.