The above could be a headline in the Catalina Cryer; but that erratic storm that sent sheets of middle and high clouds over us everyday for a week it seemed, finally came through with a stupefyingly good rain. I just could not believe how that storm kept “giving” all day and into the evening yesterday, ending with a dramatic sunset while rain still fell (see below)! This is where a meteorologist can be in awe and excited all day, commenting over and over again to those in his presence about how amazed he is about dank and dark skies producing ANOTHER splurge of light to moderate rain! I’m still excited. (Very odd behavior, especially when you have visitors from Seattle.)
But recall, at times, and on some models, no rain was in the numerical crystal ball on some runs just before this happened, while on the other hand, a few days before it happened, this kind of drenching rain was predicted several times in some model runs. All these model fluctuations due to the erratic nature of the upper level configuration, main jet stream to the north, our storm like a spinning top, wobbling around out there in the eastern Pac. And that scenario was giving the models and us AZ “precipophiles” headaches and hope, but ultimately, wonder. This storm will be emblazoned in this writer’s mind forever because of how great it “came through” for us here in SE AZ. Take a look at the map below for last evening just as the rain was concluding, where you can see a frontal rain band is about to drench Cabo San Lucas, and the upper low center is positioned off central Baja; pretty darn unusual. (Note: the air is flowing along the greenish “height contour” lines, so it goes from the north on the west side of the low, and usually descends, while on the east side it curls around and goes NEward, with rising motion with sheets of clouds produced, as shown here.)
Combining this rain with our other two November drenchers of just under half an inch each, we have finally had a month with ABOVE normal rainfall at 1.45 inches, at least for us in Catalina where the November average is 0.97 inches. Sometimes it seems like above normal rain can’t happen anymore here with the droughty spell we’ve had. But more on that and climo maybe tomorrow. In the meantime, the latest 24 h regional totals will be here when the site is back up. Before the site crashed, Mt. Sara Lemmon had already gotten over an inch of rain as of late yesterday afternoon.
PS: That next rain, only yesterday predicted for Sunday, November 20th? Its gone. Like the endless “puddle” seen on the highway on a hot day, that “puddle” of rain like the one on the highway that always moves farther away, has now also been moved farther away to November 22-23rd in the models. Don’t count on it!
Below, our dramatic sunset of yesterday. Streams of rain off the AZ room frame the sun in front of a messy backyard. But I will straighten it up today, I promise!
The End.
