Heavy Rain, Low Clouds and Wildflowers

We have had an extended period of heavy rain across Northern Arizona this week with some of the 7-day rainfall totals exceeded 5 inches. After a night of heavy rain we had several hours of fog and low clouds the following morning. I went to Anderson Mesa southeast of Flagstaff to get above the fog. Unfortunately, the fog layer was too deep and there was also a layer of clouds above so there was no morning light. Still, the fog drifting through the Lower Lake Mary area was interesting.

Fog draped across Lower Lake Mary.
Fog draped across Lower Lake Mary.
As the fog lifts the San Franciso Peaks can be seen in the distance.
As the fog lifts the San Franciso Peaks can be seen in the distance.

Later in the morning I shot this photo of the lifting fog and low clouds with the San Francisco Peaks in the distance.

Sunflowers along the recently completed Sheep Crossing Trail in Flagstaff.
Sunflowers along the recently completed Sheep Crossing Trail in Flagstaff.
Sunflower closeup.
Sunflower closeup.
Seven-day rainfall totals around Flagstaff.
Seven-day rainfall totals around Flagstaff.

All this rain has brought out the wildflowers, including these sunflowers found on the edge of the recently completed Sheep Crossing Trail, part of the Flagstaff Urban Trail System (FUTS).

Thunderstorms and Lightning

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The North American Monsoon has been sputtering—for lack of a better term—the past week or two. We get a few days of storms followed by a hot and dry period. Finally, however, moisture is beginning to increase and we are seeing more storms. I have tried several times this year to get great photographs of storms and lightning but my success rate has been pretty low.

Here are a few photographs from the past week.

Clouds develop across the whole sky in Sedona.
Clouds develop across the whole sky in Sedona.
An outflow boundary arrives and thunderstorms develop within a few minutes.
An outflow boundary arrives and thunderstorms develop within a few minutes.
A distant thunderstorm seen from Wupatki National Monument.
A distant thunderstorm seen from Wupatki National Monument.
Mid-afternoon lightning near Mormon Lake.
Mid-afternoon lightning near Mormon Lake.

And, finally we have a time lapse of the same storm that produced the lightning above. The video is 200x real time; from the motion it can be seen that the storm has some slow rotation. This storm moved off the higher terrain and became severe as it neared the Camp Verde area.

The weather models have been consistent with forecasting a significant increase in storm activity next week.

Dewey Bridge and SR-128

We recently completed a round trip between Arizona and Colorado and had the opportunity to drive along Utah SR-128, a designated Scenic Highway. I was reminded of our first trip down this road and crossing the Dewey Bridge.

Dewey Bridge - 1983
Dewey Bridge – 1983
Castle Valley, Utah.
Castle Valley, Utah.

That was in November 1983 and we were on our way from Denver, Colorado to the Grand Canyon. I remember stopping and getting out of the car in amazement and wondering if the bridge was safe. Well, there was no turning back at this point so across the bridge we went. The first photo was taken just before we drove across. As I recall, the highway had some unpaved segments at that time.

There was a lot of snow on that trip and the buttes and mesas were gorgeous.

Dewey Bridge - 1988.
Dewey Bridge – 1988.
Fisher Towers sunset.
Fisher Towers sunset.

A later visit was in April 1988. The new bridge was in place and the Dewey Bridge was now closed to vehicles but you were welcome to walk across it. We fixed a dinner in the Fisher Towers picnic area (there was no campground at that time) and were treated to this colorful sunset on the towers.

Much has changed since then. The highway has more traffic. The picnic area was replaced by a campground and it is busy. There are additional campgrounds farther downstream where once there were only faint pullouts along the side of the river.

In 2008, the Dewey Bridge burned and it was the end of an era. Jim Stiles wrote about it in High Country News.

All photos were shot on Kodachrome 64 film. Yeah, those were the days!

 

Moon-Venus Conjunction

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A few days ago, the thin crescent Moon passed close to the planet Venus in the evening twilight sky. Conjunctions such as this repeat at roughly one-month intervals so this is not a rare occurrence—just a beautiful one.

Conjunction of Venus and the Moon.
Conjunction of Venus and the Moon.

The crescent Moon is ~2.4% illuminated by the direct light of the Sun; the remainder of the Moon is lit by Earthshine which is bright enough to show detail on the shadowed face of the Moon. Leonardo da Vinci explained the phenomenon in the early 16th century when he realized that both Earth and the Moon reflect sunlight at the same time. Light is reflected from Earth to the Moon and back to Earth as earthshine.