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-Received approx .10 inch from this storm as it formed overhead.  Storms continuing for many haours after, even now, last look at rainguage 0.80 inches.  Storms cooled us down to the 60′s from 90.  Alos brief strong wind not to severe levels.

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and then

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and more. Below is not a true funnel cloud, just an imitation.

and coming over

Some of the moisture from this storm was provided by an ex hurricane.

First the clouds

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Todays clouds, with distant thundershower.

then the sunset

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contrast

I have things to do this morning but I will put photo’s and link to video later.

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then

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a guest

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As the wall cloud kept coming closer, we had to ready to hunker out in the middle hallway near the bathroom.

and the earlier one to the east of this one

and the wall cloud getting closer to us with unseen ?

and one more

Funnel producing supercell 15 mi…

Funnel producing supercell 15 min later

This was the same storm which I called into the National Weather Service. The wall cloud This was the same storm which I called into the National Weather Service. The wall cloud section that slowly had rotated with the storm and approached closer from the Southeast but left me unable to see what was beyond the horizon. (more) (less)

00:44

Todays July 12 08 funnel cloud, …

Todays July 12 08 funnel cloud, from southeast Arizona

From excavations I have created small ponds that remain after the surface runoff is over.

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Here are yesterdays sky photo’s. At the Weather Channel they are calling our monsoon season the “summer thunderstorm season”. Last year we had 12 inches in two months here, the year before, 16 inches. Mostly the benefit of the La Nina effects. This year has stared out fine as well with 3 inches in the first 11 days of July.

We have not been told our monsoon season has retired for the summer thunderstorm one. They appear to be letting us down easily by calling the monsoon season a fixed time from June 15 to September 30. Next year perhaps they will drop the monsoon title. I can only figure out two likely reasons to not call a monsoon season such; it does not actually compare to southeast Asia or India ones, or the business interest feel the title scares potential newcomers from coming to a place with a; Oh my God! A monsoon! The monsoons are coming! Run for your lives! You’re crazy to move there! But summer thunderstorms? How cozy.

I really liked the cirrus like clouds above the main cumulus ones

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If you check out Nexrad radar on the Weather Underground now, you will see this complex looking like it might roll up to Tucson. Tomorrow is said to be the potential big rain day, as a low pressure moves in from Sonora Mexico and stalls a bit over Arizona into the weekend.

With yesterdays nearly an inch here, it’s still the more the merrier.

We never know which new plants or insects might show up do to the weather and other timing this monsoon season.

This wolf spider was walking on the floor. I put a hose valve next to it to show its size.

and this mornings damp drive edge, with overflowing water cistern

I have come to believe that there is an exponential deception we often observe in thinking it is raining everywhere but right were one is. It is quite common to hear someone say “Then it just split and moved around us. So our party went great!” Though indeed this does at times actually happen. It is somewhat hard to judge where the actual storm is. When over you it often seems everywhere if it is large enough, but off on the side, it might look just next-door but be unknown miles away. Now here comes a “that being said”.

I have had many occasions of traveling and seeing the rain in the valleys, or rain until I get to the hills where I live, which brings me to a suspicion; that the hills here may be in part the result of being where mostly orographic caused storms change their identities after leaving the high mountain ranges that cup us from the south. I so often notice the very same result in storm lifetimes and propagation, that I am beginning to think that in these unusual circumstances these local hills may be the artifact of storm development regularities over many thousands or millions of years. ?

here are yesterdays storms closing in which seemed to “bounce” as they arrived, then went around us.

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Well, these were a bit before they closed in much more. It rained hard for about 10 seconds again, before the new storms forming seemed to take the energy away from the older one coming at us here.

There were some nice sun and cloud scenes

and then

then as the day ends, some declining storms approaching from the east fizzle out over our already worked over cool air.  While it was 100 something in Phoenix, it was 72 degrees here.

I still await a truly sever thunderstorm to film for you.

The thermal Low near Yuma is also near a classic position. The Four Corners High is important for its ability to help steer humid air into the Southwest, but particularly for its effect at steering current levels. It acts as a clockwise driver to direct storms off the Colorado Plateau and other mountain ranges down into the valleys. Many thunderstorms in the Southwest this time of year come from the general northeast direction, occasionally more to the Southeast-south, and more rarely, west or southwest.

The storms collective outflows help to perpetuate storms outward like a daily cold front. During the monsoon season weather can develop locally and in larger scale complexes many ways, but this pressure position along with geography makes some days like today have certain similarities. These can be interfered with by leftover cloud debris from a prior days storms retarding day heating, and sometimes mesoscale circulations from the days before storms.

and this one which I enhanced had two different colors going on

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and back to the beginning

Well, it seems to be coming in now. They have increased the chance of rain and severe thunderstorms are already appearing in Southeast Arizona.

I have my rain-gauge in its new location, so I am ready for a downpour. Our trees are ready as well. I also have the roof in, so that should take any storms as well.

It is such fun, this change of weather called the monsoon season. We go from mostly sunny weather for months, some with no rain at all for months. Then here, most every day has lightning and thunder. We can have measurable rain several times a week, sometimes even several times a day. This goes on for two months more or less.

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Then as the day went on the sky clouded up, with a few large thunderstorms near, but not here.

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and then

and then

and one more

and bye.

I will post some photo’s of the orographic lift conditions that so often determine the day’s rainfall and storm action, baring any intervening factors such as retrograde low pressures coming from the Rio Grande to North Mexico areas (sometimes these embedded disturbances are from hurricane going into South Texas or Mexico.

Today we have less Southwest steering from a possible cut off low pressure. Occasionally (quite rare), the usually drying Southwest flow might have Pacific hurricane leftovers in it, and we have enhanced rainfall chances. Often our best rain chances in the monsoon come from low pressure disturbances and the “kick out” dry air from the Southwest acting as a kind of front to lift the retreating moist air.

These photo’s today show the more normal mountain build-ups that then depend on steering wind conditions and available humidity for the days outcome. Once they go off, even more random events effect the storms life. It may come off as an organized supercell, or gradually develop into a mesocale complex. Once storms get going, their outflow boundaries can play a major role in the future of the storm. It may cut itself off by creating new storms out ahead of it. merging outflow boundaries may have storms appear suddenly in-between. The shade from the sheared off anvils might create so much cooling that other development is retarded.

Often under normal conditions, storms in Southeast Arizona gradually move downhill to the lower deserts, where they can become very large supercells out in Central Pima County. Most years tend to have their own behavioral patterns for some time that are not replicated exactly any year soon. It is an interesting observation of probable much larger scale environmental conditions, particularly the oceans temperatures and tropical conditions.

and here about 40 min later with more developed flanking clouds

I this last photo, there appears to be signs of warmer air aloft diffusing the cloud top, yet the general cloud mass has increased near noon, and may still develop enough to overcome the warm air restrictions. If the dew point was in the sixties, the cloud would probably be touching the Santa Rita Mountains. Some day’s with high dew points and not much descending air, this sized cloud may have developed not long after sunrise. Occasionally, very moist days are so cloudy, not much rain happens in many places since the heating lift is canceled out. Other times, with a disturbance included, storms may persist and reform all day and night. The influence of other storms and lifting mechanisms, plus geologic conditions, can have it rain in some areas all day, and yet not much at all 20 miles away.

So pray for the excellent meteorologist of the National Weather Service covering these monsoon vagaries.

An hour and fifteen minutes later, the buildup over the Santa Rita’s has evolved into a storm with a well developed anvil. I took this photo with rain beginning to hit me and thunder rumbling from a storm forming just a few miles to the Southwest. This storm may well pass over here then become much more developed just a few (3-15) more miles North of here, unless it were to stall overhead, or become so large it’s flanking area continues to train new cell pieces overhead. I will be off-line for some time possibly if lightning is near.

There are some tornado warnings out now in the central US.

Storms formed just to the north as they often do, otherwise near the higher mountains. The Northeast trajectory of storm movement is a little unusual. For the rest of the afternoon I will be looking to the Southwest and right overhead, since I am working up o the roof.

I’ll go take a photo to show you the conditions at 1:36pm PDT

To the Northeast-

and to the Southwest–

It got up to 99, then the air from downdrafts began to cool.  By five it was 78.  I was actually chilled in the cold wind.  I finished drying in my roof project 5 min before the rain came.  Here is a photo from 5:20 pm.  Street lights came on in some spots.

We seemed to be along a deformation zone of some sort.  Storms kept forming overhead and moving east, with very little out west.  The last group of storms became quite huge and occasionally built back to throw large raindrops for a few minutes and a few nearby lightnings, which keep me offline during most storms.  The area forecast mentioned rains in excess of 3 inches, hail and wind to 50.  we were quite windy but not over 35mph.  We received only about 3 tenths of an inch, but it is a good start.

These years of La Nina conditions tend to give us much enhanced summer rains.  Three years ago we had onlt 5 ” through the whole summer.  Then on the La Nina year it jumped to 16 inches, which was great.  Last year was around 12 inches here, which is still above normal.

Here is my local rain shot;

Near Tucson Int Airport–buildups

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and on I-19 above

and the downpour

then fire on the mountain

Here is a shot of last evenings rainbow.  But first a Weatherunderground link to sever weather in case you wer hoping to know what was going on. US Severe Weather

and earlier

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and as a cumulonimbus develops

this small starting storm went on to become one much larger like this one

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