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This section contains an archive of some Weather stories that have appeared in my Jigsaw Puzzle Journal. My Journal has a fairly rapid scroll rate and individual postings rarely last more than a few weeks. This section will last longer.
September 7, 2005
Monday 6:10 pm - Another interesting cloud feature in the sky today, a "sun dog". I greatly increased the photo's contrast to show off the unusual streak extending to the right. I've seen a lot of "sun dogs", but do not recall ever seeing such a long associated ray.
Same picture, uncropped, no processing done, but reduced in size
August 17, 2004
9:18 pm - Weapon of Mass Destruction detonated in San Diego! Well not really, but an innocent cloud transformed itself to a big thunderstorm with incredible speed! As soon as I saw the initial cloud, years, no, decades, of cloud watching told me to grab my camera as fast as possible and drive to a location to watch the explosion. Photo times, PDT.
6:18pm - Cloud discovered - drop everything!
6:29pm - I arrive at the Cactus Garden in Balboa Park, a good place for looking East
6:39pm - I gotta zoom out a bit to get all of the rapidly spreading anvil
7:02 pm - Storm continues to spread in both directions
However, convection in one area of the base of the cumulonimbus cloud, around 1/3 in from the left, has almost stopped
7:24pm - Passersby referred to it as a spaceship or nuclear bomb!
Note that the left side's "cauliflower" growth has almost completely ceased
7:29pm - After sunset, a fireball in the sky
Update: The National Weather Service wrote this evening: A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ERUPTED OVER THE DESERT NEAR AGUA CALIENTE SPRINGS EARLY THIS EVENING AS A BRIEF PERIOD OF STRONGER WEST FLOW COMING THROUGH THE MTN PASSES INTERSECTED WITH SOUTHEAST FLOW OVER THE LOWER DESERTS. VERTICALLY INTERGRATED (sic) LIQUID VALUES AS HIGH AS 63 KG/SQ METER WERE DETECTED BY RADAR...AND THAT INDICATES LARGE HAIL. CLOUD TOPS WERE NEARLY 50000 FEET HIGH. THIS WAS EVEN THE CLASSIC "RIGHT-MOVER" WHERE SHEAR-RELATED PROPAGATION FORCES THE STORM TO MOVE TO THE RIGHT...OR SOUTH IN THIS CASE...OF WHERE THE WIND WOULD TAKE IT. HOWEVER...SHORTLY AFTER 730 PM...THE STORM COLLAPSED AND DISINTEGRATED.
John S. Stokes III
Custom Puzzle Craft
2350 Sixth Ave. #7H
San Diego, CA 92101
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