Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Environment

A Solar Optics Rainbow Cloud

Rainbow Cloud

Earlier today, I saw this cloud in the sky to the south that was lit up like a rainbow from the glancing rays of sunlight. It was an amazing little puff of rainbow color floating high in the sky. I grabbed my camera and got this image. Click on the image to enlarge.

From EarthSky:

These colorful clouds are called iridescent clouds, and the phenomenon is called cloud iridescence or irisation. The term comes from Iris, the Greek personification of the rainbow. It’s similar to the colors you might see when oil lies on the surface of a puddle of water. When you see a cloud like this, you know there are especially tiny ice crystals or water droplets in the air. Larger ice crystals produce solar or lunar halos, but tiny ice crystals or water droplets cause light to be diffracted – spread out – creating this rainbow-like effect in the clouds.

25 Aug 2014 by Arizona Environment Photography

Monsoons This Evening

Weather Map

The forecast according to the NWS was to be 50% chance of heavy rain this evening. Well, it’s now 100%. Looking at the radar loop image, I see a band of yellow to red precipitation echos heading our way from the east-southeast. So far, there are no severe thunderstorm warnings, but the night is young.

We’re all cozy inside listening to the rainfall and watching one of the two TVs. It seems that with satellite reception, the HDTV craps out before the SDTV. We have one of each subscribed here. When the precip moves northwest, the satellite signals will return. That’s the only bummer about satellite versus cable is the weather and solar event blackouts.

12 Aug 2014 by Arizona Environment

Thunderstorm Damage

Thunderstorm Damage

Last Sunday evening, a very severe thunderstorm hit the Wickenburg area. We were at home at the time and the winds and rain felt to us like hurricane strength. We had a lot of erosion damage to the RV drive along with a lot of sand and small rocks runoff out back. No structural damage to either the house or the trailer, but we did lose a plum tree (snapped off at the base) in the courtyard and a recently installed ocotillo out front was knocked down, but was re-planted by the landscape crew this afternoon.

This is one of several covered wagons in town, all of which sustained damage. One covered wagon at the other end of town from this one had been blown over. Numerous canopies and business signs were damaged. One business a quarter mile from our house lost it’s roof; the debris blocked US 60 in front of the business until crews got it cleaned up. Click on the image to enlarge.

08 Aug 2014 by Arizona Environment Photography

Debris on the Road

Debris on the Road

Country Club Drive crosses Casandro Wash about a quarter of a mile upstream from the dam. The dam is about eight hundred feet south of our house. Damsel took this photo of some debris still on the road as we passed by driving on Wickenburg Way (US 60). It has been over two weeks since the last major thunderstorm and this debris remains, although the road is passable.

Right after the storm, this road was closed due to debris and obstructions. It reopened a couple of days later. I guess the mindset is that the road is open and we still have another month or more of possible monsoon activity. Clean up can take place after that, I guess. Click on the image to enlarge.

28 Jul 2014 by Arizona Environment

Supermoon

Super Moon

Last night, we had the first of three so-called supermoons this summer. It is the phenomenon where the moon appears to subtend a larger angle in the sky due to it’s close proximity to the Earth. We’re due to have another, even larger supermoon on August 10th.

From Wikipedia

A supermoon is the coincidence of a full moon or a new moon with the closest approach the Moon makes to the Earth on its elliptical orbit, resulting in the largest apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from Earth. The technical name is the perigee-syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system. The term “supermoon” is not astronomical, but originated in modern astrology. The association of the Moon with both oceanic and crustal tides has led to claims that the supermoon phenomenon may be associated with increased risk of events such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, but the evidence of such a link is widely held to be unconvincing.

The most recent occurrence was on July 12, 2014. The next and closest supermoon of 2014 will be on August 10.

The opposite phenomenon, an apogee-syzygy, has been called a micromoon, though this term is not as widespread as supermoon.

Although the reference to supermoons causing earthquakes is “held to be unconvincing,” I still remember the 1971 Sylmar quake which occurred the morning after a supermoon. I remain completely unconvinced that anything other than terrestrial tectonic plate movement had anything to do with that event.

13 Jul 2014 by Astronomy Environment

Flowing Water in Casandro Wash

Flowing Water

This is an image of lower Casandro wash just before it flows into the aqueduct under Mariposa Drive. If it were not for Casandro Dam located 1000 feet upstream, the entire property zone where we built our house would be flooded rather than just this trickle.

The dam’s catch basin stores most of the water flowing down upper Casandro wash when the monsoons come. There is a regulated pipeline that originates in the basin and ends with the pipe that slowly releases the trapped water at a point below the dam.

Just last Friday, Damsel and I were down in this part of the wash picking up bottles, cans and other unsightly debris to be recycled rather than be an eyesore to us and anyone else that likes to see our desert clean from debris like that. Click on Damsel’s image to enlarge.

08 Jul 2014 by Arizona Environment

Monsoon – Continued

Monsoon

We had a major downpour this afternoon as the monsoon thunderstorms descended upon Wickenburg late this afternoon. The skies darkened and the sheets of heavy rain came. It was raining so heavily at times that we could not see 500 feet. I braved the wind and rain long enough to get this shot of the RV drive flooding and the downspout from the gutter running off like a little Yosemite Falls.

We, and the dogs, were safe and sound inside while all this was going on. The dogs preferred to hibernate under their blankets through the worst of the storm. Click on the image to enlarge.

06 Jul 2014 by Arizona Environment Photography

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