Monsoon–September 2023

October 27, 2023

As mentioned in an earlier post the monsoon had a late start this year–and ended about the middle of September which is fairly typical.

02 September 2023

Lightning bridges the clouds above and fog below in Grand Canyon.

Lightning strikes the walls of Grand Canyon near Desert View Tower.

I went to Grand Canyon early and was photographing storms shortly before 3 P.M. It was interesting and unusual because fog rapidly developed deep inside the canyon as the storms approached from the south. For a moment I wasn’t certain I would see anything in the reduced visibility. But close lightning bolts dropped from the cloud base above, through the clear air, and then disappeared in the fog in the inner canyon. It was really spectacular to see this.

Another storm dropped a lightning bolt into the canyon near Desert View Tower with multiple contact points. Wow!

A double rainbow over Palisades of the Canyon and Desert View Tower in Grand Canyon.

A rainbow moments before sunset spans the canyon.

And then the rainbows arrived with some brilliant and colorful arcs of light over Desert View point. Finally, just moments before sunset, another rainbow stretched from the North Rim to the South Rim.

It was an amazing day.

12 September 2023

An early evening storm produced a lot of in-cloud lightning that lit up the thunderstorm at the same time that the setting Sun was illuminating it from the West. And all of this was reflected in the waters of Mormon Lake.

Thunderstorm after sunset near Mormon Lake.

13 September 2023

Storms were more isolated this day allowing for nice views of the convection. I was able to get several photographs of the storms over the Little Colorado River (LCR) valley as I was heading towards Grand Canyon. Late in the afternoon a short segment of a rainbow appeared over the LCR.

An early afternoon thunderstorm over the Little Colorado River valley east of Grand Canyon.

Thunderstorm over the eastern portions of Grand Canyon.

A short segment of a rainbow with Desert View Tower.

14 September 2023

I spent the late afternoon and early evening in Wupatki National Monument and was able to get some really great sunset photographs. There was lightning after dark but most of it was too far away for interesting structure and branching.

A burst of color on a rain shaft at sunset over Wupatki National Monument.

Fading sunset colors over Wupatki National Monument.

15 September 2023

Late afternoon and early evening storms were present to the west of Mormon Lake. I kept hoping for some dramatic lightning with sunset color–but only got the latter. It was still pretty good!

The setting sun illuminates a rain shaft over Mormon Mountain and Mormon Lake.

17 September 2023

I was actually trying to photograph Comet C/2023 P1 Nishimura but these clouds were in the way. This was taken well after sunset and the color was pretty remarkable.

Sunset colors on a mid-level deck of clouds.

So after a late start the monsoon season produced many photogenic opportunities for clouds, sunsets, fog, and lightning. And now the long wait until next season.

Previous posts on the 2023 North American Monsoon:

A Very Foggy Morning

October 5, 2023

Fog at sunrise in the Mormon Lake Basin.

A few days ago we had a cold front move across the area and overnight temperatures fell below freezing for a few hours in the higher terrain. It turns out that October is a good month for fog formation from these first frontal incursions. Area lakes still have relatively warm water from the recently ended summer. The passage of the cold air over the warm water allows for increased moisture flux from the warm water into the colder air that increases the dewpoint (and relative humidity) and can result in fog. Also, the shorter days–and longer nights–allows radiation fog to develop in the valleys.

Fog in the Mormon Lake basin with a colorful but diffuse glory.

A small sailboat lies at anchor on a foggy morning at Upper Lake Mary.

With that in mind, I found myself driving past Lake Mary to Mormon Lake before sunrise on Tuesday morning. As I approached Lake Mary visibility dropped quickly to 1/4 mile, then 1/8 mile, and then 1/16 mile. Visibility improved once I passed both Lower and Upper Lake Mary. At Mormon Lake, there was fog swirling in the basin and the rising Sun was just starting to illuminate the summits of the San Francisco Peaks.

After the fog dissipated in Mormon Lake, I returned to Lake Mary where the fog was still present and I was able to capture fogbows plus a nice photo of a sailboat anchored in the lake.

Time-lapse video of the swirling fog in the Mormon Lake basin.

Time-lapse video of the swirling fog and glory in the Mormon Lake basin.

The time-lapse videos show remarkable motion of the swirling for over Mormon Lake as well as the colorful but diffuse glory that was present.

A very fun morning.

Fog definitions from Weather.gov:

(1) Steam fog (arctic sea smoke). Steam fog forms when water vapor is added to air that is much colder, then condenses into fog. It is commonly seen as wisps of vapor emanating from the surface of water. This fog is most common in middle latitudes near lakes and rivers during autumn and early winter, when waters are still warm and colder air masses prevail.

(2) Radiation fog (ground or valley fog). Radiational cooling produces this type of fog. Under stable nighttime conditions, long-wave radiation is emitted by the ground; this cools the ground, which causes a temperature inversion. In turn, moist air near the ground cools to its dew point. Depending upon ground moisture content, moisture may evaporate into the air, raising the dew point of this stable layer, accelerating radiation fog formation.

Fog in Northern Arizona

March 24, 2023

This Winter has been relentless with snowfall now at about 200% of normal for Flagstaff. Many of these storms have made it difficult to get to various locations for shooting photos of the weather. Fortunately, the last few storms have allowed me to do some pre-dawn travel to favorite locations.

The first two photos are from the morning of 16 March 2023 when I thought there was a good chance of low clouds and fog in Grand Canyon. In fact, there was too much fog and I was only able to briefly see into the canyon while at Lipan Point. I finally moved westward to Moran Point where there was a larger break in the fog allowing sunlight to illuminate the canyon.

Early morning fog in Grand Canyon from Lipan Point.

Early morning fog in Grand Canyon from Moran Point.

A week later we had a snow-turning-to-rain event that left the roads relatively easy to travel and I ventured out to Mormon Lake on the morning of 23 March 2023. The abundance of moisture over the previous few days resulted in lots of fog in low-lying basins including Lake Mary and Mormon Lake. Clear skies to the east allowed the rising sun to illuminate the San Francisco Peaks in the distance.

The distant San Francisco Peaks rise above fog filling Mormon Lake basin.

Fog fills Mormon Lake Basin. A faint Glory is seen left of center while a short segment of a fogbow is right of center.

I was also interested in capturing images with a Glory/Brocken Spectre and fogbows. Both were faintly visible in some of the photos where I was above the fog. A better fogbow photo was shot when I was in the fog.

And here is a time-lapse video of the swirling fog in the Mormon Lake basin.

Time-lapse video of fog swirling in Mormon Lake basin.

The medium-range forecasts indicate that Winter is not yet done.

Early Morning Ground Fog — or How I Salvaged an Astro Photo Shoot

January 9, 2023

We have had extensive cloudiness here for the past few weeks. The atmospheric rivers (AR) that have been causing excessive rain in California have brought lesser amounts of rain and snow to northern Arizona–but a lot of clouds. Consequently, I have been unable to do any astrophotography imaging for several weeks.

Early morning ground fog covers portions of Mormon Lake.

Finally, however, we had a clear night and I wanted to see if I could get some good images of comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) in the morning sky. The only problem was a nearly full Moon.

Undaunted, I awoke early in the morning and drove to one of my preferred locations for shooting astro images. Along the way, I ran into patches of ground fog. I was worried that the fog would prevent me from getting good sky photos. The real problem, however, was the bright Moon. I shoot several images before giving up because the sky was too bright.

As a consolation, I decided to shoot photographs of the low-lying fog that was illuminated by the nearly-full Moon. I like these better that the comet images–but I will try to photograph the comet again after the Moon has moved out of the morning sky.

Sunrise, Sunset, Rainbows, and Fog

August 18, 2022

The North American Monsoon continues to bring convective activity to much of northern Arizona on a daily basis. There have been plenty of opportunities for colorful sunrises and sunsets as well as rainbows and even some fog.