Thursday, July 21, 2011

The Perils Of Waiting Too Long

It finally began raining in Albuquerque yesterday, and I was watching the event on radar. An interesting image appeared: a perfect circle radiating outwards from the South Valley near the mouth of Tijeras Arroyo. Apparently a downburst, or related phenomenon, had struck the ground and the gust front was radiating away in all directions. The radar was picking up the resultant dust. But I waited too long to try and download the images, so the data have entered archives, and there is no place dustier and spookier than Weather Data Archives. I waited too long. That should teach me!

There was also another strange thing I noticed about yesterday’s rain. Maybe it’s nothing – just coincidence – but it caught my attention.

Storms started early on Mt. Taylor, then midday, they all completely collapsed, and the skies cleared there. Only THEN, did it start raining in a ring all around Mt. Taylor, including the ABQ area. I wonder if Mt. Taylor, being a large, shield-like, looming volcanic presence, has an inordinate influence on weather in the ABQ area, by triggering a gravity wave that can promote storms (but only after storms have already first occurred on Mt. Taylor)? That’s my hypothesis. I’ll see if today’s pattern follows this description.

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