Damsel got this shot of this rare Circumzenithal Arc over Arizona this morning. She was sleeping when I saw one in January of 2014 and today she managed to get this shot directly overhead.
I missed seeing it, but when I downloaded from her Canon camera this afternoon, I recognized the phenomenon. Glad that she got to see one of these. Very nice.
Click on the image to enlarge.
Many of the flowers are gone this late in the season, but the rosemary bushes we planted five years ago along the RV Drive still have their tiny blue flowers. This butterfly was kind enough to pose while this photo was taken a couple of days ago. Click on the image to enlarge.
Joe Bastardi, writing in The Patriot Post reminds us of the perpetual misinterpretation of weather phenomena by the media and other Greenbats. This article discusses the tendency of alarmists to blame any and all weather phenomena on anthropogenic activity. Forty years ago, they were discussing a new Ice Age, but as Joe notes, they want us to forget about that:
First It Was No Snow and Cold. Now It’s More Snow and Cold?
I will keep this short. The climate change (AKA global warming) alarmists are now understanding that blocking over the North Pole is the inevitable result of long-term oceanic and solar fluctuations (or at least I hope they are). However, in an effort to again push their missive (fear of a cold, snowy winter), they are pre-blaming the shift in the polar vortex on their ideas. This is rich because, in the winters of the 1970s, when it got very warm relative to average over the poles, we had people warning that an ice age was coming (of course they want you to forget that).
[Read the entire short article.]
Image: 500 millibar world chart showing relative temperatures; red is hot, violet is cold.
Well, it has been over a week since we posted anything here on the state of the world, etc. We have been busy with our October to-do list, consisting of a few chores and some important healthcare milestones.
Damsel took this photo of the harvest moon rising behind our big saguaro and ocotillo a couple of evenings ago. We are having a pleasant “second spring” with daytime temperatures in the high eighties to low nineties and nocturnal lows are still in the comfort zone of low to mid sixties. We love our desert retirement home.
Click on the image to enlarge.
Damsel was in the courtyard just after sundown this evening when she noticed this three and a half foot long snake coming across the road out front. She called to me telling me I should bring a camera. After she pointed it out, we went down the RV drive to get a better look.
According to Wikipedia, the species Ctotalus scutulatus (Western Mojave Rattlesnake) is reputed to be aggressive toward humans and, in fact, this guy coiled up into a striking position as I approached. I took this photo before quickly retreating behind the landscape wall. We wanted no close encounters with some of the most toxic of rattlesnake venom.
We backed off and watched the snake slither along the RV Drive until finally disappearing under some of the native creosote on the lot to the west of us. We hope that it keeps on moving away from the area where we will be walking the dogs later tonight.
This is a screenshot segment of the National Radar Mosaic showing the remnant of Hurricane Newton over Arizona and New Mexico. I thought it strange that there should be a blank, almost rectangular feature in the radar echoes until I realized what it was. A quick look at the surrounding radar installations revealed that the blank spot, which is located almost entirely within the southwest corner of Catron County, New Mexico, is beyond the range of the four adjacent radar installations from which the composite is made. That area is unseen by the radars at Tuscon, El Paso, Albuquerque and Flagstaff.
The population of the entire County affected is a little over 3600 total, so there aren’t that many people affected by the lack of radar coverage, although Reserve, NM, the county seat appears to be in the blank area. I just thought the blank spot was amusing enough to post about it here.
We’re in for some effects resulting from Hurricane Newton, currently crossing the Sea of Cortez in Mexico heading northward. In the images above, left to right, the visible satellite image showing clouds over the area, the probable path and intensity of the storm and a photo of some of the upper level clouds and moisture over us. Click on any image to enlarge.
Southeastern Arizona and Southwestern New Mexico are expected to endure some tropical weather over the next couple of days with isolated rain showers and flash flooding. Up here, we can already see the effects of the storm. Today started out crystal clear then after about 3 PM, the clouds associated with Hurricane Newton started to cover the area.
The following is an excerpt from a NOAA prognosis:
Newton continues to be a large tropical cyclone, and hazards extend well away from the center. These hazards will affect a large portion of Baja California Sur, northwestern Mexico, and southeastern Arizona during the next day or so. Moisture associated with the remnants of Newton are likely to cause heavy rains and localized flash flooding over parts of Arizona and New Mexico Wednesday and Thursday.
We’re not expecting high probabilities of storms (only 10 to 20 percent) but we’re well-stocked and will be ready for it if it comes.
