Perfect Cumulonimbus

[pj67coll]

I was able to capture this perfect Cumulonimbus cell and anvil at sunset yesterday. On my phone so the quality is not great unfortunately but I think it's quite a neat example of one of the "monsoon" storms that cause so much dust havoc in Phoenix.

It was about 55 miles south east of me according the radar and was the most northerly cell that day. It was moving slowly from right to left in a NNE direction and although it pushed some wind in front of it there wasn't enough to cause any real dust events. At least not near me.

I'm hoping for some better storms as summer progresses.



- Peter.

[Dudesky]

Nothing like a stack of them in a squall line to get your attention at 35K..

[pj67coll]

Originally Posted by Dudesky

Nothing like a stack of them in a squall line to get your attention at 35K..

No doubt. I'm happy to observe them from ground level.

- Peter.

[Jorn]

Wow, have seen some weird skies but this is wicked.

[Dudesky]

Originally Posted by Jorn

Wow, have seen some weird skies but this is wicked.

That's what a thunder head looks like without all the low level clouds obscuring the view.That funneled portion at the top is where the gigantic ice balls come out that hit aircraft if they fly too close.

[elchivito]

Phoenix wimmin' have big haboobs.

Gettin' muggy down there yet? It's been miserable up here the last few, but cooled to 63 this morning as the humidity dropped over night. Yesterday it was 90+ by 9 a.m., today only 79. The day's heating is more gradual. Good looking thunderhead!

[kerry]

I wish we were seeing more of them around here in the afternoons. 100 degree days are not bad if they terminate in a series of thunderstorms starting around 3pm. But without those rains, it's too damn hot for my liking.

[pj67coll]

Originally Posted by elchivito

Phoenix wimmin' have big haboobs.

Gettin' muggy down there yet? It's been miserable up here the last few, but cooled to 63 this morning as the humidity dropped over night. Yesterday it was 90+ by 9 a.m., today only 79. The day's heating is more gradual. Good looking thunderhead!

It's not been too bad. There have been some unpleasantly hot days where it's hung around 110 but the humidity has not been bad enough to be really uncomfortable yet. That will come in time.

I'm in Avondale which is the south west part of the valley. I've been watching the weather radar the last few years and have concluded that we are just outside the main path of the monsoon flow out of Mexico. Almost all the storm activity that moves up from Tucson concentrates on the east side of the valley tapering off as you look to the west until you seldom get anything where we are. Except of course for dust storms that are driven in front of the actual storms themselves. I really hope there is a change this year.

- Peter.

[elchivito]

Originally Posted by pj67coll

It's not been too bad. There have been some unpleasantly hot days where it's hung around 110 but the humidity has not been bad enough to be really uncomfortable yet. That will come in time.

I'm in Avondale which is the south west part of the valley. I've been watching the weather radar the last few years and have concluded that we are just outside the main path of the monsoon flow out of Mexico. Almost all the storm activity that moves up from Tucson concentrates on the east side of the valley tapering off as you look to the west until you seldom get anything where we are. Except of course for dust storms that are driven in front of the actual storms themselves. I really hope there is a change this year.

- Peter.

The only change may be a slight variation in the severity of the season as far as convective activity goes. I've been watching Phx. storms for 50+ years. When I was a kid, we had a cotton and dairy farm in Glendale and I had cousins with citrus along Baseline Road. We used to go down there quite a bit to help out. In the 50s-60s, the whole valley was surrounded on three sides by farms. Cotton, citrus and alfalfa. The dust storms still came, but the buffer zone of farms knocked out most of their kick before they got all the way into town. There is some farming left of course, but not near enough to buffer the sand storms. I just can't call them haboobs. I've tried.

[pj67coll]

Seems to me that the amount of farming between Phoenix and Tucson is one of the reasons for the severity of the dust. Instead of hard desert crust the winds are blowing over miles and miles of tilled soil that turns to dust at the slightest sign of atmospheric disturbance. We have a lot of farmland still out where I work and live. In fact right next to our office is about a square mile of farmland. Even without wind the dust is incredible whenever any kind of truck, tractor or combine goes near it. Still, I rather like being amongst farm fields. Nicer than endless urban sprawl. I just wish the storms would hit us as well from time to time. With rain I mean, not just dust.

- Peter.

[TwitchKitty]

Great picture.

Once saw a kinda similar cloud with lightning coming out of the bottom of the cloud and going to the top of cloud. Pretty freaky.

I recently saw pictures of Asperatus clouds. They don't look real, not absolutely sure that they are. Search google images for asperatus.

[Since66]

Cumulonimbus? Anyone else think that's a poorly disguised spaceship?

Ya never know....ya know!