Quick Discussion – Friday July 24, 2009

Yesterday ended up suppressed in the immediate metro Tucson area, but with storms in all directions on the higher terrain. The storm in the Computer Science web cam view above was raining lightly but producing quite a bit of lightning. Heard thunder rumbles at house from this storm. The Pima County ALERT gauge network had measurable rain at 44 of the 93 gauges; mostly those at higher elevations and those to south and west of Tucson. The morning showers yesterday, plus the abundant cloud cover, cooled the lowest elevations and keep temps down, shutting down the lower elevations of town.

The morning sounding at TWC today has the most precipitable water of the summer and most of the GPS sites in southern Arizona have 1.75 to 2.00” of water vapor. Excellent sounding for heavy rains and wet downbursts – assuming there is better heating today. The 500mb anticyclone center is far off in northwestern Colorado and the high has a very distinct, elongated south to north shape. This has allowed a significant south-southeast fetch from low latitudes that has moistened most of the west portion of the anticyclone. The NAM indicates that this will continue through about 24 to 36 hours. The NAM also forecasts the most significant storm activity today to occur out in the western portions of the state and the Rim/White Mountain country.

We’re leaving in an hour or so for four days in the Rim Country, and I won’t get another look at the charts, or be blogging, until next week. I am soaking some of the plants, for insurance, before we leave.