Atmosphere Comparison

[Jim]

The endless chatter of weather.

[Jim]

Now, I'm relatively new to this, but I spotted the brown cloud yesterday from the Flatiron and PK 5024, both over much of the Valley, but also in the Santa Cruz Flats and over the Casa Grande and Florence area. Today however, back home, it appears to be gone. Where did it go? Was it just mostly reflected particulate more visible by the low sun? I can clearly see South Mountain, the buildings, and the White Tanks with no visible brown. Where did it go?

Now, other than us not really needing another Flatiron photoset, I don't know why I felt the need to place more than 1 photo of the brown here. Maybe this isn't that bad (the cloud). That last one has nothing to do with the air!

[SuperstitionGuy]

Where did it go?

We absorbed it into our lungs! :tt: :yuck: :whistle:

[Jim]

I must say, I am shocked, SHOCKED at how cold it is outside in the morning these days in Phoenix. This wasn't in the brochure.

[nikorock28]

I must say, I am shocked, SHOCKED at how cold it is outside in the morning these days in Phoenix. This wasn't in the brochure.

It was a cold November. I am glad I was away from the Canyon for at least some of the colder days. Happy to see that it will be warming up later this week, and dry as well.

[PatrickL]

I miss our weekly downpour.

[rcorfman]

@Patrick L
Maybe in a couple of weeks as a big storm is heading towards the Sierra.

[chumley]

Pattern change! Looks like we're going from plaid to polka dots and stripes.

So far, moisture looks minimal, but we'll see how it turns out by this time next week.

[nikorock28]

Car thermometer was 52 degrees at lunch today and 55 just now. Those are the warmest recordings in some time. But, it doesn't appear it will last as I checked the 15 day forecast and looks super cold beginning this weekend/early next week. I sure hope the highs are not in the 20s and lows south of zero as the forecast calls for. Oh well, at least the sun will begin setting later and later now. That is a mental boost for me.

[azbackpackr]

@nikorock28
Okay, Nick, this is something I did not know. I looked it up but I won't provide the info since I am sure that particular minutiae would offend my friend John, (aka SAMBA). And we can't have that! :roll:

But anyway, somehow I thought it would set earlier and earlier until the solstice, but that is not the case at this latitude.

Anyway, hoping to hear you get out of the cold soon.

[nikorock28]

@azbackpackr I really was not aware of the times until I looked it up a few days ago. It was exciting for me to see. The sunrise times do get later but that has no effect on me as I am not a morning person.

[azbackpackr]

@nikorock28
Haha, that's funny, since I am so totally a morning person, and always have wondered why it takes so long for the days to get longer, from my perspective. It isn't until February that I begin to feel that summer may actually be coming back.

[SpiderLegs]

Have an interesting take on all of this. Just got hired by a logistics company and am up in northern California for training this week. They are telling us to prep our customers for weather related delays this winter in California and the southwest. Plus have a team of people mapping out alternate shipping routes in case a flood or mudslide closes one of the major freeways.

[Jim]

FYI, the days do not get longer until after the Solstice later this month, but for a reason I can not explain, sunrise and sunset times continues to move backward in out day, or as we measure day with time. clocks. Then, as day length is added, it is not equally added to the morning and evening hours, but to the evening. Check the HAZ calendar, to see bi-weekly sunrise and sunset times.

[chumley]

somehow I thought it would set earlier and earlier until the solstice, but that is not the case at this latitude.

While latitude plays a factor in how much the difference is, the fact that there is a difference at all is because days are not exactly 24 hours long. Karl was actually talking about this in Bonita Creek this weekend.

Analemma may sound like an uncomfortable medical procedure, but it's an interesting wiki read if you are motivated.

EarthSky has a reasonably easy-to-comprehend explanation of it on their website. http://earthsky.org/earth/winter-solsti ... te-sunrise

Highlights:

Why isn’t the earliest sunset on the year’s shortest day? You have to think about it in terms of solar noon or midday, the time midway between sunrise and sunset, when the sun reaches its highest point for the day.

A clock ticks off exactly 24 hours from one noon to the next. But the actual days – as measured by the spin of the Earth – are rarely exactly 24 hours long.

So the exact time of solar noon, as measured by Earth’s spin, shifts in a seasonal way. If you measured Earth’s spin from one solar noon to the next, you’d find that – around the time of the December solstice – the time period between consecutive solar noons is actually half a minute longer than 24 hours.

So – two weeks before the solstice, for example – the sun reaches its noontime position at 11:52 a.m. local standard time. Two weeks later – on the winter solstice – the sun reaches its noontime position at 11:59 a.m. That’s 7 minutes later.

The later clock time for solar noon also means a later clock time for sunrise and sunset. The result: earlier sunsets before the winter solstice and increasingly later sunrises for a few weeks after the winter solstice.

The exact date of earliest sunset varies with latitude. But the sequence is always the same. For the Northern Hemisphere, earliest sunset in early December, winter solstice, latest sunrise in early January.

In short, the earliest sunset/winter solstice/latest sunrise and earliest sunrise/summer solstice/latest sunset phenomena are due to the fact that true solar days are longer than 24 hours long for several weeks before and after the solstices. At and around the solstices, the Earth must rotate farther on its axis for the sun to return to its daily noontime position, primarily because the sun is appreciably north or south of the Earth’s equator.

However, perihelion accentuates the effect around the December solstice, giving a day length of 24 hours 30 seconds. And aphelion lessens the effect around the June solstice, giving a day length of 24 hours 13 seconds.

Bottom line: The earliest sunsets and latest sunrises don’t come on the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.

In Phoenix this winter (2015/16), sunset starts getting later beginning TODAY -- December 9th, while sunrise begins to get earlier on January 15th.

[azbackpackr]

@chumley
Thanks! Interesting stuff! I'm glad I'm down in a very wide valley in the desert, gives the illusion of a longer day, at least. I'm a little bit vulnerable to the short day depression (I'm especially SAD if I'm in the mountains where it's cold), but I really don't feel it down here. Can't wait for Jan. 16, though, for the sunrises to begin earlier!

[rwstorm]

Wake me when it's March...I hate winter. However, while I'm sleeping let's get some rain for the sake of the wildflowers! ;)

[Jim]

Oh my god, I agree with Randy!

[joebartels]

Cold through Christmas after tomorrow for the Valley.

[FOTG]

@joe bartels
ugh..where is the rain

[Jim]

@joe bartels
http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=375879

Note your comment. Get ready for it.

Well, unless it really was just about the implied meaning, in which case.....well, I have yet to see you anywhere out and about, so I think it probably isn't that, and then who knows how much longer I'll be here.