The higher CAPE yesterday did lead to a significant increase in afternoon storm activity over eastern Pima County, with heaviest storms in the metro around 2 to 3 pm MST. Above is view of heavy thunderstorm over the Catalinas at 1 pm. This storm did try to drift south into the metro area but fizzled just east of the house. Plot below shows CG lightning strikes for 24-hours ending at 5 am this morning (21 August). Numerous lightning strikes disrupted electrical power in several parts of the city.
Shown here are two sections of the ALERT network showing 24-hour rainfall through 7 am. Note the heavy amounts on the Catalinas. Below shows western section of the network. Note that the ALERT gauge at the Rillito and Dodge indicated 0.63". This gauge is about 1 mile east of the house, where I only measured 0.04", so I walked down there this morning to investigate. Certainly was a definite gradient and it had rained more over there - more about this later. I estimated wind gusts here at 40 to 50 mph and there are branches and some limbs down but marginal as far as classifying due to severe thunderstorm.
Across the ALERT network 42 sites recorded rainfall (46% coverage) and that's the greatest coverage since the storms of August 5th. There were 7 sites with 1/2 inch or more and 3 with over an inch. So definitely the most active day during past two weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment