Dusty Start To April

 

Blowig dust over the Catalinas at 5:00 pm MST yesterday.

The airport had gusts to 49 mph in the afternoon. Strongest gusts I found in the observations: Safford and Guthrie both had 55 mph, and Winslow reported 51 mph. At one point late in day I-10 was closed both north and also east of Tucson due to crashes and low visibility from the blowing dust.

March Summary

 
 

A cloudy sunrise (with contrail) to start April.

During March there was only measurable rain here on four days - the 7th, 12th, 13th, and 15th - totaling 0.59". The showers actually occured mostly during the nights. This was a fairly typical March, coming in at the 13th driest spot. Forecast models indicate a very dry start for April, as our drought continues.

Astronomical Spring

The vernal equinox (i.e. start of astronomical spring) occurred yesterday during the early morning hours - diagram above.

Outlooks from the NWS Climate Prediction Center for April/May/June are shown here - temperature above and precipitation below. Looks like more of the same for the Southwest.

Tri-State Tornado

The Tri-State tornado occured 100 years ago. Its track strectched from Missouri, through Illinois, and into Indiana, and left nearly 700 people dead. It remains the dealiest tornado to this date.

Figure showing the track that was re-analyzed by Johns and others in second paper referenced below.

St. Patrick's Day Chicago

 

Deadly Storm Outbreak

View of the Catalinas at 7:00 am MST this morning.

Light showers were scattered around the metro area during the night last night - we had 0.02" here at the house. See map of reports from MesoWest below.

There was a serious outbreak of severe storms yesterday - summary from the SPC (above) shows more more than 650 reports, with 27 tornadoes. Over a dozen fatalities have been reported.

This morning's 250 mb analysis (above) shows a powerful jet across the southwest that will be heading for the Southeast today. The SPC has issued a rare "High" probability area for more severe storms today - see below

March 14

 

More Showers

Some new snow at Summerhaven, as shown above at 8:50 am MST this morning.

Rainfall coverage across the ALERT network (above and below) was almost 100% for amounts of 0.04" or more (above and below, for 24-hours ending at 8:45 am this morning). Rainfall here was 0.19", most of which fell before midnight last night. The airport reported 0.11", DM had 0.12", and Atmo had 0.17".. Winds were strong and gusty across most of the state, as per 46 mph at the airport, 56 mph at Winslow, and a gust to 74 mph at Guthrie over near the New Mexico border.

The NWS outlook for rainfall amounts from this evening through tomorrow morning is shown above, and the current forecast for the airport is shown below.