Storm Chasing.

Every morning I read the forecast discussion from the local office of the National Weather Service. The first paragraph of today’s forecast is worded in a way I have never seen before, but it warmed my heart.

.DISCUSSION…For most, it can be a challenge to define where

inspiration comes from. For the great artists, it usually would

come from a glance at something so wonderful that it initiates a

sense of awe. Something so wonderful that it makes them want to

mimic that emotional response. Today, the weather across all of

Southeast Arizona will be perfect…truly awe-inspiring. A

shortwave ridge of high pressure nudging into the Desert Southwest

from the west today will usher in mildly warm afternoon

temperatures 5-10 degrees above climatological normal (the upper

70s to mid 80s across the valleys). A gentle breeze. Sunny skies.

It`s that type of day where you must find your way outside to

enjoy.

The best storms during the Monsoon Season are usually the ones that never appeared on the forecast. We had some impressive lightning strikes in the show this evening.

I love it when Mother Nature is in a feisty mood. Here’s some lightning shots of the latest storm to pass through during this monsoon season.

Our second wave of thunderstorms of the night is passing through as I type this blog entry. I grabbed some good lightning shots before the rain became too much.

I love the complexity of the clouds in this photo.

I enjoy Mother Nature, even here in the Sonoran Desert where the sun can be relentless and the weather somewhat “static”.

Monsoon season has been fairly active thus far. Wednesday night brought an impressive lightning show to western Pima County (the other side of Tucson from where we live). Mother Nature pulled a lot out of the atmosphere with that show, so when the storms came down from the Mogollon Rim yesterday afternoon, the atmosphere had better convective potential in on the eastern side of Tucson.

The show was impressive.

I’ve decided to put together a monsoon video highlighting some of the storms and will be working along with that for the next several weeks. I’m hopeful Mother Nature remains feisty for this project. I know I am. In the meanwhile, here’s some shots from last night’s fun.

In the shot where I’m holding the tripod, I was actually holding the tripod down, as the outflow wind gusts were fairly strong. The weather station on our roof recorded a peak gust of 32 knots, but it feels like it might have been a little higher.

Mother Nature has kicked this year’s Monsoon Season up a notch, and according to the National Weather Service, this is just the appetizer for what may be an active weekend for storms.

I made my first Official Storm Spotter report to the National Weather Service office here in Tucson tonight. We clocked winds at 52 MPH at 18:28 this evening, which puts things into Severe Thunderstorm territory. Of course I was outside enjoying the majesty of it all.

I’ve been catching lightning shots all night. Lightning at sunset is glorious.

I just caught this strike on video about 10 minutes before posting this entry.

Monsoon 2024 has been a little uneven thus far, though it’s still fairly early in the season. There’s been a ridge of high pressure over the area, bringing along record temperatures for this part of Arizona.

There were no storms in the forecast today, but Mother Nature still managed to kick up some impressive winds and some interesting clouds and rainbows today. I hastily pulled together some video; I’ll hope to have something released on the channel by the end of the week highlighting this little bit of fun.

I am a big fan of the YouTube (and PBS) series “Outside Beyond The Lens”. I recently watched their episodes about storm chasing, and it perfectly captures and shares the vibe and sentiment I feel when out on the Great Plains chasing storms. I hope you enjoy this beautiful piece of video art as much as I did.

Mother Nature seems to be in a feisty mood again this week. After some impressive monsoon rains this past weekend, it looks like she’s going to continue her fun for the next few days.

Tucson is under the “Heavy Rain/Flash Flooding Possible” red zone in today’s forecast from the NOAA WPC or Weather Prediction Center. Maybe I’ll get some good lightning shots after work tonight.