Miscellany - Sunday, March 30th

It is a cloudy and somewhat dreary morning here in the Tucson area this last weekend of March. View above is looking north from Kitt Peak. With the cloud cover during the night, temperatures this morning were mild - for example, only down to 43 F here at the house versus 56 F at TUS.

There is a Red Flag Warning in effect today for the southeast corner of Arizona - remember that many of the NWS graphics show the area being warned as larger than it actually is. The graphic below is from under the "Detailed Hazards" tab at the NWS web page, and shows the actual warning area (Flagstaff has also issued a Red Flag Warning for the northeast corner of the state).

...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM THIS MORNING TO 7 PM MST
THIS EVENING FOR STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS...LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITIES...
AND A HIGH FIRE DANGER FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST ARIZONA...INCLUDING
COCHISE...SOUTHERN GRAHAM...SOUTHERN GREENLEE AND EASTERN SANTA
CRUZ COUNTIES...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON HAS ISSUED A RED FLAG
WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM THIS MORNING TO 7 PM MST
THIS EVENING.
* AFFECTED AREA...FIRE ZONE 148 AND SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF FIRE ZONE
146 INCLUDING COCHISE...SOUTHERN GRAHAM...SOUTHERN GREENLEE AND
EASTERN SANTA CRUZ COUNTIES.
* TIMING...11 AM THIS MORNING TO 7 PM MST THIS EVENING.
* WINDS...20-FOOT WINDS FROM THE SOUTHWEST TO WEST 15 TO 25 MPH
WITH GUSTS TO 45 MPH.
* RELATIVE HUMIDITY...7 TO 15 PERCENT.
* IMPACTS...ANY FIRES THAT DEVELOP WILL LIKELY SPREAD RAPIDLY DUE
TO THE GUSTY WINDS AND DRY CONDITIONS.
* FOR A DETAILED VIEW OF THE HAZARD AREA...VISIT WEATHER.GOV/TUCSON
AND CLICK ON THE DETAILED HAZARDS TAB

The short wave moving across the Great Basin today will likely lead to a Spring blizzard for the northern Plains tomorrow, an ugly way to close out the month for the Dakotas and northern Minnesota. Graphic above is NAM forecast of surface conditions (with 6-h precipitation and 850 mb temperatures) valid at 18 UTC tomorrow.

Up in Maine, winter holds sway today with a winter storm warning in effect - see web cam view below.

Finally, down in the Southern Hemisphere, intense Tropical Cyclone Hellen (gusts to 160 kts this morning) threatens Madagascar before it turns westward toward Africa. Ir image shown above and current forecast shown below.