Verna and Bob's Weblog

Climate

Eclipse Day

What we anticipated to be a dismal forecast for the weather on Eclipse Day, turned out to be not so bad, especially during the totality phase. Clouds passed between us and the sun often, but then opened up for partial phase glimpses and during totality, most of the four minutes of darkness, we were able to see the corona and in the image below, a couple of prominences at two-thirty and five-thirty on the disc. The 5:30 prominence was huge.

I wasn’t very well-prepared to take photos given the woeful forecast, which affected my motivation, but I was able to attach the big 100-400mm telephoto lens and shoot bunches of photos hand-held (no tripod) and had a few fair results including the one above. Verna had similar results and captured the “Diamond Ring” at the end of the totality show:

As I’m blogging this, we are getting some moderate to heavy thundershowers with lightning and thunder, but, Praise the Lord, no tornadoes. The precipitation knocked out the satellite TV a few times, but it is up and running now.

We’re here until Wednesday and then off to other parts of Texas south of us towards the Gulf of Mexico and thence via westerly routes heading back to Arizona over the next several days.

April 8, 2024 by Astronomy Climate Photography Retirement Vacation 0

Vulture Peak

We took the dogs to the groomer today and while we were waiting for them to be finished, we took a little drive up through Constellation Park to the county line between Maricopa and Yavapai Counties. The weather was scattered clouds and a couple of rain showers although we stayed dry.

Verna took this photo of Vulture Peak off in the distance from the county line looking west-south-west toward the vulture mountains. This mountain is an icon when visiting Wickenburg and is very prominently seen from all over town and when approaching the Hassayampa Valley.

Click on the image to enlarge.

March 20, 2024 by Arizona Climate Leisure Photography

Warmer Weather

Image cropped from GOES. Click to enlarge.

Much of the country received a “polar vortex” event, which caused temperatures to drop dramatically. Our version of the event was probably much milder than a lot of places north and east of here; we only had temperatures drop below 32° for a couple of nights the lows reaching maybe 29-31°. We got no ill effects from the cold save for some damage to the leaves (and not the fruit) on our little lemon tree.

Now, the temperatures are looking more like our normal Sonoran desert conditions for January with lows in the 40s and highs in the 70s. We like it.

The almost cloudless image above was taken from the GOES satellite imagery a couple of days ago. Our location is on the top of Maricopa county just to the left and below image center. In the image within Arizona you can see white areas of snow along the Mogollon Rim and in higher areas in Northern Arizona.

January 18, 2024 by Arizona Climate

Winter Solstice 2023

Image – an unusual snow day in Wickenburg (2014-12-31)

Solstice Notes

The first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere is marked by the winter solstice, which occurs on Thursday, December 21, 2023, at 8:27 P.M. Arizona time or 0127Z if you’re into Greenwich mean time. Today is the shortest day of the year with only 9 hours and 53 minutes of sunshine at our latitude here in Wickenburg.

We’re not expecting any snow of the magnitude depicted above this season. The snowfall in Wickenburg on New Year’s Eve 2014 was the most snow we have ever seen in town since we moved here in early 2011 when our house was finally completed. As a matter of fact, we can count our snow days on one hand over our nearly 13 years of living here.

Music Notes

The 61-key digital keyboard shown below is the replacement for an older version of the same thing that I’ve had since March of 2010 (and there were many before that). This one has much more capability and I have been enjoying exploring the different voices, songs and styles included in the unit.

I have been playing keyboards (without much formal training) since age 5 or so. I have messed with MIDI quite a lot although that isn’t my peak interest now. I’d much rather play favorites and try to compose some things now and then.

The new keyboard is a Yamaha PSR E373 which is still considered an entry level unit, but it has a lot more features than I probably can figure out how to use. I have an app for the Smart Phone which allows me to record sound and video from the unit. Maybe I will post some of it on social media and link it here one of these days.

Here is the new unit in my studio (a.k.a. Master Bedroom):

This is Yamaha’s Blurb about this keyboard:

The PSR-E373 features a newly developed tone generator that delivers stunning improvements in sound quality as well as high-quality effects. You can enjoy a comprehensive library of 622 instrument Voices perfect for playing in any genre you choose, as well as unique Super Articulation Lite Voices that reproduce the subtle nuances of stringed instruments such as the cello and mandolin that are typically difficult to emulate on a keyboard instrument, delivering realistic and authentic performances.

The old keyboard will be retired to the Motorhome for practice when we’re on the road.

December 21, 2023 by Astronomy Climate Entertainment Music Retirement

Fall Photos

We like to say when the autumnal equinox happens that we’re in “Second Spring.” The temperatures aren’t over 100 degrees like in the summertime, only reaching to 98 or 99. When the thermometer starts peaking at only in the 70’s, then Fall is finally here and second spring is over. That is likely to be around Halloween or after.

This time of year, we’re still seeing the Turkey Vultures (Buzzards to some) soaring overhead. I took this photo of a buzzard swooping low this morning.

Our “Devils Tongue” barrel cactus usually has its flower power in the fall. This is a close-up of one of the flowers surrounded by other flowers, flower buds and (below) cactus fruit ripening. Image courtesy of Cap’n Bob.

Click on either image to enlarge.

September 25, 2023 by Climate Critters Flowers Photography

Avalon 1998

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