Model forecasts verified quite well late afternoon and last night. Moisture increased rapidly from the south during the afternoon on strong southerly winds. The photo above was taken a bit before 5 pm MST and shows a partial rainbow over the Catalinas. We had a brief sprinkle here at the house around 3 pm and then a large area of moderate and heavy showers developed over eastern Pima County by 8 pm. There was a second period of lighter showers with the frontal passage after midnight. Amounts of a half inch or more were common over most of Arizona early this morning (Friday, December 14th). Within the ALERT network 11, mostly higher elevation sites, had over an inch of rainfall. Snow amounts at the highest elevations are unknown at this time. Highest rain amount I found at 5:30 am was 1.66" at the Carr RAWS station. Several sites in southeastern Arizona had winds gusts yesterday afternoon of >50 mph, with the highest noted at 62 mph at the Guthrie RAWS site. Here at the house we had 0.52" through 5 am - this is the most significant rain event to occur here since August 23rd, and it was most welcome.
ALERT network sectors showing rainfall for 24-hours ending at about 5 am MST this morning - above shows Catalinas area and below shows northeast Metro, Reddington Pass and the Rincon areas.
The early WRF-GFS run at Atmo indicates another round of precipitation at midday tomorrow - above is WRF-GFS forecast of composite radar echos at 10 am on Saturday morning. The Winterhaven Festival of Lights, which officially begins tomorrow, and the weather are right in sync again this year.
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