Bands of snow showers moving across the San Francisco Peaks. In its wake, sunlight illuminates both clouds and some of the snow still falling.
Tuesday afternoon brought the passage of a weak cold front across northern Arizona. It was mostly clear much of the day but by late afternoon clouds were increasing and spreading southward. Because there was a distinct west edge to the clouds it was likely that the setting sun would be able to illuminate the overhead clouds.
As the band of convective snow showers progressed southward it took on the characteristics of an outflow boundary and even developed a bit of a shelf cloud on the leading edge.
Convective cloud band with a small shelf cloud beginning to develop.The setting sun illuminates the convective cloud band.
As the sun dropped lower in the western sky this cloud band briefly took on the colors of sunset.
Time lapse video showing the southward progression of the convective snow showers.
And, then, a few minutes later the light was gone.
Late September provided a chance to photograph storms associated with the passage of an upper-level trough crossing the southwest. Ahead of the trough would be moderate-to-strong upper level winds along with deep-layer shear. So there was a possibility of a few strong thunderstorms that might develop supercellular characteristics. As well, there would likely be a line of storms that formed on the surface cold front pushing southeastward across the state.
Shelf cloud associated with an outflow boundary from a cluster of thunderstorms moving over the San Francisco Peaks.
The plan was to head north to Cameron, Arizona, then slowly work back to the south as the line of storms moved across the area. I went to Cameron but the storms to the west and northwest were already weakening while storms farther to the southwest were strengthening. So — back south I went with stops at Wupatki NM and Sunset Crater NM while watching the storms. A cluster of storms developed north of the San Francisco Peaks and eventually pushed a strong outflow across the mountains. The leading edge of this outflow had an interesting cloud structure and was briefly very photogenic.
Sunset colors on the clouds at Fort Tuthill County Park.
After a few photos, I continued moving across Flagstaff on my way home. Suddenly, the sun dropped low enough to get below the clouds and for a few minutes there was great sunset light on the bottom of the clouds. I shot a few photos at Fort Tuthill County Park with the undersides of the clouds full of sunset colors. And, then just a few minutes later it was over and the light was gone.
So I could have just stayed at home and gone out shooting at the last minute of daylight.
Late afternoon sun lights up a distant thunderstorm and the Red Rocks of Sedona.The setting sun and crepuscular rays.
The next day showed potential for a few interesting storms south of Flagstaff. I headed to Sedona and spent a few hours photographing storms.
The past few days have produced interesting storms across northern Arizona.
An isolated thunderstorm develops at sunset.Lightning illuminates an updraft.
An isolated storm developed around sunset and produced both wonderful colors and lightning. Most of the lightning, however, was on the other side of the updraft so the storm instead was lit from the inside like a lightbulb. The storm colors and lightning was nicely reflected in the waters of the Kachina Wetlands.
Low clouds from thunderstorms envelop the San Francisco Peaks.Outflow boundary and low clouds arrive in Sedona.Lightning over the Mogollon Rim.
A few days later a large line of convective storms moved southwestward across the state and produced a haboob in the lower (and drier) elevations. As the leading edge of the rain-cooled air moved across the San Francisco peaks the clouds quickly enveloped the mountains. About an hour later, the shelf cloud arrived in Sedona and new storms began to develop.
