Atmosphere Comparison

[Jim]

The endless chatter of weather.

[azbackpackr]

Even chilly here--it was 30 degrees here in Valley Center, California, and I had to scrape ice off my windshield! But, it warmed up quickly.

[imike]

20 Degrees here this morning... but clear and dry.

[sneakySASQUATCH]

We are forecast to have a high above freezing (34F) for the first time in a week.

[Jim]

It was more like 12, at least, at the Alamogordo airport and probably at my house. My house is very poorly insulated, and my kitchen water lines froze. It was 65 inside, and they still froze.

[azbackpackr]

My renter called to let me know that all the pipes froze in the house in Eagar. Haha! I warned them to let the faucets drip. But when it gets down to zero or below, as it did there, you can't do much about it. I hope no pipes broke. Most of them have frozen multiple times without breaking, but then last year I had a fairly major event, with flooding, etc.

[RowdyandMe]

@azbackpackr
Well you can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink it

[azbackpackr]

I'm not there! Hardy hardy har! I'm not there!
I hiked in shorts and a t-shirt today, yippee hi yi yay!
No more snow for me!

I did have to scrape ice off the windshield the other day here, but it warmed up later in the day to t-shirt weather.

[Jim]

Storm's a-comin'. Looks like some decent rain and snow for SE AZ, with up to 10 inches in the Catalinas, Rincons, and Santa Ritas. Not much for northern AZ.

[azbackpackr]

It's on its way right now. It's raining here in SoCal, and it is probably snowing on Palomar, which is 11 miles away as the crow flies, but is 4,000 feet higher.

[rwstorm]

Bring it on! Got to keep the rain events going at least twice per month for a good late winter/spring desert wildflower show.

[tibber]

Bring it on! Got to keep the rain events going at least twice per month for a good late winter/spring desert wildflower show.

[chumley]

This has been the most pleasant desert winter week (late-autumn, depending on if you use the solstice or the JimH definition of winter) in recent memory. My morning bike rides have been so pleasant I haven't needed gloves. Three nights in a row I've entertained on the patio with a fire without needing to wrap myself in a blanket. These days that hover around 70 and drop to the mid 40s are ideal.

I like the rain and snow too though, and plan on heading out to enjoy it this weekend.

[Jim]

It's winter.

If anyone looks at the forecast models, the mountains of Mexico will get a lot out of this system.

What is a little odd, is that California/ the Sierra is rather dry this winter, so far.

[azbackpackr]

Drizzle all day here in SoCal. Probably soaked in a little bit, too. Fire danger was very high last week with the Santa Ana conditions, this will bump that down again.

[Jim]

San Diego NWS reported 2/10ths in Valley Center.

The Solstice is Saturday the 21st at 10:11/9:11 MST/PST. So, even though I use meteorologic seasons with Winter starting December 1, the solar seasons have Winter starting tomorrow. When will our discontent begin? Moreover, who is the Son of York?




This current system is forecast to accumulate 6 to 10 inches of snow on such attractive mountains as the Catalina, Rincon, and Santa Rita, which I like, but also is forecast to drop 4 to 10 inches on the Sacramento Mountains over here. Not sure of a snow level, but that is actually a bit exciting. It would be nice, if a full 10 inches fell above 8,000'.

[chumley]

I think this storm turned out wetter than forecast. The FLG office is reporting 4-8" already in most locations.

Here in the valley the 1/10th to 1/4 forecast was generally obliterated overnight. I had .79" at my house and there are a couple of spots over 1".

[FOTG]

I will be there Sunday anyways, but I am curious..does anyone have an idea how much the Supes got? if anyone goes out there today or tomorrow, just curious...no biggie..tons of water out there already, I am just greedy

[chumley]

@friendofThundergod
There are few rain gauges in the Supes to draw actual data from, but the radar returns show that not much rain fell there. Only in the 1/2" range. The Mazzies on the other hand show radar estimated rainfall in excess of 2".

The forecast does call for showers to continue most of the day today, especially in the mountains north and east of Phoenix, so additional rain is likely out there.

Whitlow Ranch Dam .35
Fish Creek .50
Pinto Creek .19

[FOTG]

@chumley
I saw that on radar, looked like drizzle at best..but a half an inch in fish creek will get that area flowing for sure, especially with water from last storm still hanging around..thanks

[Jim]

Well, both meteorologists and solar observers agree: It's Winter! 3 months to Spring, but it was getting nice by early March last year. I loved the 90s in early to mid-March on Tucson.

The Storm dropped 11 inches up at Ski Apache, not sure of density, but that is probably a lot for them. I think Cloudcroft got 8 to 10, but I am speculating based on a photo I saw. We had rain, and I guess between 1/4 and 1/2 inch rain. I wish we had reliable gauges around here, but the airport and the El Paso NWS is bad about reporting totals. The radar estimate has 1.5 inches around Sunspot, Timberon, and almost 2 inches around the Benson Ridge H.P., so there was a fair amount from the system.

I am surprised that Ski the Lemmon only reports 6 inches of snow, but that may not be the final number as it hasn't been updated since Friday. Snowbowl says 9 to 11, and I guess that is good. With half inch totals of rain at the base of the Catalina Mountains, I expected more like 10" to a foot, at the top.