Wipeout! Shaft winds weaken before arriving, aren’t able to push clouds up much

Surfaris. Except it wasn’t funny. This song begins with a mocking laugh. Well, maybe “mocking” is correct.

Used 90 min of video on an “incoming” yesterday, thinking we’d get shafted pretty good as a thin line of heavy Cumulus congestus transitioning to Cumulonimbus passed over, maybe a quarter or more of an inch from both warm rain and ice processes¹ in a line of clouds produced by the winds resulting from a strong fall of rain from a cell just north of Biosphere2. I am sure you were thinking the same thing and are profoundly disappointed today, not only by that one, but also by that Big Bopper that formed in the late afternoon around the same spot to the north-northeast of us.

10:33 AM. Icy topped cell has unloaded N of the Biosphere2 and a line of heavy Cumulus have formed above the outflowing wind boundary, creating a line of rain headed this way!

10:49 AM. Outflow winds pushing nice, fat Cu up, and its getting closer raising hopes.

11:16 AM. Good rain shafting moves into Saddlebrooke. I can feel the huge drops! MIght even be an all warm rain process shower, too, Wind shift almost here, though it is taking its time, I begin to think.

11?39 AM. Shaft thinning by the second! Dammitall. Wind shift, rain drops still not here! This is now looking horrible. Cloud base above wind shift narrowing, falling apart, too. This could be the worst day of my life.

11:58 AM. Rain, wind and wind have quit. Shaft is transparent, Code 1 maybe, easily seen through. 0.04 inches registered by Davis Vantage Pro Mark IV super-duper personal weather station.

Wished I’d copied that Wundermap of precip amounts at personal weather stations, but here they are, to reinforce the concept of a “wipeout“:

North of Saddlebrooke: 1.04 inches

Center of Saddlebrooke: 0.53 inches

South Saddlebrooke: 0.24 inches

Sutherland Heights “video station”: 0.04 inches! Ouch.

Wind blast here out of this event? Oh, maybe 12 mph.

What started out as a happy day turned sad in a hurry.

And this wasn’t the only “wipeout“! A worse one happened in the late afternoon that was far more excruciating; pain unbearable. A real explosion into gigantic Cumulonimbus occurred in a broken line, again in the area north of Saddlebrooke. It appeared one had produced a huge outflow for a time–probably was up toward the Biosphere2.

Some background. Here’s how it all started with a gargantuan line of Cumulonimbus and Cumulus congestus clouds in familiar broken line from just north of the Tortolitas to our northwest to north of Oracle to the northeast shown in the photos below, all taken at 3:43 PM. CMP wasn’t looking when this eruption of activity suddenly occurred, and seemed to happen elsewhere as well. May have been that afternoon temperatures just reached that higher point to send these big boys up there.

3:47 PM. Looking toward Tucson as this embarrassing formation arose, Cumulonimbus calvus erectus. This tall, slender cloud was incredible because it showed how great the instability was on this day. Fat clouds we know can rise up to become huge purveyors of rain, but narrow ones like this need a lot instability, lots of humidity around the growing turret so that it doesn't evaporate, and a good updraft so that it doesn't take to long to reach 30-35 kft level, as estimated here. So, it was real demonstration of the type of air mass we had this day. — 3:47 PM. Looking toward Tucson as this embarrassing formation arose, Cumulonimbus calvus erectus. This tall, slender cloud was incredible because it showed how great the instability was on this day. Fat clouds we know can rise up to become huge purveyors of rain, but narrow ones like this need a lot instability, lots of humidity around the growing turret so that it doesn’t evaporate, and a good updraft so that it doesn’t take to long to reach 30-35 kft level, as estimated here. So, it was real demonstration of the type of air mass we had this day.

3:55 PM. Crushing rains are now dropping out of those behemoths to the N-NE. Surely a blast of wind will come shooting south toward us!

After feeding a horse on another property, I am racing back home to experience “The Blast”, and the rain in its full glory. I stopped to grab this photo, heart pounding.

"Holy Criminy!" Look at this thing, and I can just now begin to see the arcus cloud forming on the nose of the winds coming at us! — 4:12 PM. “Holy Criminy!” Look at this thing, and I can just now begin to see the arcus cloud forming (just to left of where dirt road disappears) on the nose of the winds coming at us! This will be incredible!

4:24 PM. There she is! Arcus rolls toward Catalina pumping clouds up above it, though, you know, those clouds above the arcus don't look as big as maybe they should. Some doubt begins to creep in. — 4:24 PM. There she is! Arcus rolls toward Catalina pumping clouds up above it, though, you know, those clouds above the arcus don’t look as big as maybe they should. Some doubt begins to creep in.

The arcus cloud and the once proud Cumulonimbus cloud and its incredible rain shaft wiped out, the bottom of it vaporized if that’s possible by rainout, the wind push out of it unable to reach Catalina, in spite of an auspicious start. I now insert a picture of a horse, Zeus, to keep your interest up, maybe raise your spirits after such a debilitating cloud stories as are found here today. Animals, such as dogs, miniature horses and donkeys, are often used in psycho rehab units, especially for depressed persons, such as you are right now after reading this. So, I am really doing this horse insertion for my reader, whom I have depressed royally today:

Zeus, 16.2 hands, eating. Has a pleasant disposition overall. — Zeus, a Paint breed horse, 16.2 hands tall, eating. Has a pleasant disposition overall.

6:09 PM. Some people no doubt had two or more inches fall on them from those storms north of us, and the day ended cool, humid and overcast, with isolated showers as shown here toward the SSW toward Tucson. It was nice to be outside, swatting gnats and such a minor nuisance. — 6:09 PM. Some people no doubt had two or more inches fall on them from those storms north of us, and the day ended cool, humid and overcast due to multiple layers of clouds from Cu, Ac, and As from anvils, with isolated showers as shown here toward the SSW toward Tucson. It was nice to be outside, swatting gnats and such a minor nuisance.

The End (for August 3rd–falling behind more and more!)

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¹As a cloud maven junior person, of course, you know what I am talkin’ about when I mention “warm rain” and “ice processes.”

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.

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