Tuesday - September 04, 2007Monday - September 03, 2007Watching the Storms come...I could see the rain coming. Next came the wind and dust. It was interesting how the clouds were blowing down. But that was all from that storm. The rain came from the south and east. Great storm. (All images are clickable.) Monday - September 03, 2007Friday - August 24, 2007Hurricane forms over Southern Arizona...What? You can clearly see the eye. Okay. It is not a Hurricane, but it looks pretty cool and I hope it brings rain: Click to see it in motion. Thursday - August 23, 2007"Gigantic Jets"...![]() Think of them as sprites on steroids: Gigantic Jets are lightning-like discharges that spring from the top of thunderstorms, reaching all the way from the thunderhead to the ionosphere 50+ miles overhead. They're enormous and powerful. You've never seen one? "Gigantic Jets are very rare," explains atmospheric scientist and Jet-expert Oscar van der Velde of the Université Paul Sabatier's Laboratoire d’Aérologie in Toulouse, France. "The first one was discovered in 2001 by Dr. Victor Pasko in Puerto Rico. Since then fewer than 30 jets have been recorded--mostly over open ocean and on only two occasions over land." That's why researchers are excited by the events of Aug. 20th. On that night, amateur astronomer Richard Smedley of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, was hunting for meteors using a low light video camera when he caught two Gigantic Jets instead. "They were much brighter than a typical meteor--more like a fireball," says Smedley. To appreciate the size of these things, consider the following: "They came from a thunderstorm more than 100 miles away in Missouri: map." This means the Jets were about 48 miles tall measured upward from the top of the thundercloud. Because they connect thunderstorms directly to the ionosphere, Gigantic Jets play some role in the global flow of electricity around our planet, but how big is that role? "No one knows," says van der Velde. "This is cutting-edge research and these photos from Oklahoma provide an exciting new case-study." Amateur astronomers, you can contribute to this research. Check your local weather radar map for storms just over the horizon, point your meteor cameras in that direction, and click. Gigantic Jets may not be as rare as we think.Watch the video. (via SpaceWeather)
Monday - August 20, 2007Sunday - August 19, 2007Monday - July 30, 2007Weather Question...I don't understand this. I have googled. No answers. Any weather experts want to explain this? I have watched this numerous times this Monsoon season. A storm will develop Northwest of me. It will come right at me. I have seen it on radar and visually. It gets to I-10 and just stops. Any ideas? From tonight's storm. It think a geographic or thermal deal, but I don''t know. Hmmmmm?!?! Update: I just emailed the NWS here in Tucson and Chuck George the question. I will let you know what they say. Update II - Chuck George responds:
Hi Scott! The direction of movement has generally been very slowly to the west with recent storms. Marana/NW Side are farther from the mountains. If the atmosphere is not unstable enough, the storms will fall apart before they reach locations far from the Catalinas and Rincons (those two mountain ranges are high enough to help lift the air enough to enhance storm chances, even when the atmosphere is only moderately unstable or "ripe" for producing storms.) Surely you got rain on Saturday, though, right? The direction of movement was north to south, and the storms didn't need help from the mountains Happy Weather! Chuck George KOLD NEWS 13Yes. We did get rain on Saturday. And I don't disagree with his analysis, in fact I knew that, but why does it stop at the freeway? The freeway is far from the mountains. I have seen it to many times for it not to be something. It is curious... Tuesday - July 24, 2007Friday - July 20, 2007It could be a fun afternoon...The SPC just issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch: ![]() Update (18:11 MST) - Here they come again. Cool: Thursday - July 19, 2007Viewer Views...This is cool. I sent one of my images to KOLD for their weather feature Viewer Views and it made the cut: Wednesday - July 18, 2007I love the Monsoon...Taken tonight. Looking northeast from my apartment: (Clickable) © 2007 Scott Boone Update - These storms were more than a light show: ORO VALLEY, Ariz. (AP) - An intense summer storm hit areas of Oro Valley late today with heavy rain, lightning and strong winds. The storm left behind some property damage northwest of Tucson. Residents say the storm didn't last long. The winds were so strong it pulled a mesquite tree right out of the ground. The tree landed on two cars. The winds also caused about a dozen trees to topple at an apartment complex call the La Reserve. The trees caused damage to parked cars. At a Fry's food store, uprooted trees caused damage to four cars. There are no reports of injuries.More: A microburst hit Oro Valley Wednesday evening and in just a matter of minutes, 60 to 70 mile per hour winds did some major damage. At home across the street from Oro Valley Country Club, a Palo Verde the size of a telephone pole was snapped in half. The course will be closed Thursday to clean up all the trees in the fairway. Many residents experienced the same thing. "The wind was so ferocious, that the rain was going in a tunnel like way. I stood at my window and watched it and I heard the noise. If I didn't know better, I'd know this was a tornado. I never saw anything like it in my life," says Fay Mucci. Another house had part of its roof ripped off. We're told the garage collapsed on the homeowner's car. Debris was scattered throughout numerous yards. No one was injured during the course of the storm. Monday - July 16, 2007Dust Devil Warning...I have never seen a Dust Devil Warning, er, Statement, before: ![]() Hmmmmm!?!?! Wednesday - May 16, 2007Thursday - March 01, 2007Particularly Dangerous Situation...The Storm Prediction Center has issued a PDS, that doesn't happen very often.
Everyone in the area stay safe: Those in the area should also see this: Public Severe Weather
Outlook.
Update (1829 MST) - The SPC was right, sad: Tornadoes and violent storms roared Thursday across Alabama, killing at least 18 people, including 15 at Enterprise High School, where students were reported trapped under a collapsed roof. Here is a round-up. The American Red Cross. Saturday - February 10, 2007Thursday - January 18, 2007Sunday - December 24, 2006Snowed In...This is supposedly a picture of Denver
International last week when they were closed. If true, it is pretty
amazing:
Tuesday - August 08, 2006Stormy Weather...I am not really posting about the weather, even
though it's been pretty stormy tonight. I found this cool 'live' radar overlay
for Google
Earth that lets you see radar up
close:
Tuesday - August 01, 2006 |