Dalhart Weather Review
by Aaron Graves
Note: This article was written Tuesday July 15 and does not discuss the July 16 tornadic storm near Stratford. I will update the blog when more information is available.
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| Screen grab from iPad video of Monday's thunderstorm. |
Dalhart can boast another 0.89" of rain after a Monday afternoon thunderstorm brought heavy rain and some hail to the two counties. This raises our official precipitation total for July, as recorded at the airport, to 0.98". For the year, Dalhart stands at 6.59".
Winds up to 60 mph and pea-size hail was reported in Dalhart. A grain elevator and silo outside of Texline received wind damage. CoCoRaHS observers reported 0.28" in Texline and 0.71" along South Sedan Road northwest of Dalhart.
Texaspivot.com shows southwestern Dallam County and northwestern Hartley County received the most rain, with automatic rain gauges reporting anywhere from 0.25" to 0.75". The core of the storm dumped over 2" on several reporting stations west of town. Rain totals tapered off to 0.10" or less east of Dalhart and in the Hartley area.
Rain continues in the forecast through Friday. Temperatures are expected to stay in the mid 80's through Friday before returning to the 90's this weekend.
Since I commenced "cloud chasing" a few years ago, I have seen many a beautiful site in this corner of the Panhandle. Amazing sunsets, breathtaking rainbows, spectacular displays of lightning, and more. There have been a couple of times, however, when I saw something I never expected to see.
Like, say, a rainbow at midnight. Or how about a desert-like mirage in freezing weather?
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| Using time exposure, a faint, white "moonbow" shows up as a regular looking rainbow. We spotted this Sunday evening around midnight north of Dalhart. |
A full moon can reflect enough sunlight that it creates a faint rainbow when a storm is nearby. To the human eye, the "moonbow" usually appears faint and white. Using time exposure photography, however, all the colors of the rainbow are present. Such was the case Sunday night just north of Dalhart as a small rain shower moved by.
To see a moonbow, you need the moon to be close to its brightest phase - a full moon. In addition, it must be low in the sky, and the sky must be very dark. Thus, moonbows are not likely to appear until two to three hours after the sun sets. Finally, you need rain on the opposite side of the sky. Seeing a moonbow is a rare event.
We have all seen a mirage created on a hot day. For example, when traveling, the road on the horizon seems detached and wavy. A mirage is basically light rays that are being bent and creating a false image in the atmosphere.
What bends the light? Cold air is more dense than warm air. If you have a significant enough difference between the two, it will bend the light similar to the way a glass of water distorts a straw stuck in it. This can happen on a hot day, or a cold day.
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| This cool mirage was created on a freezing December morning last year. Mirages are possible during hot and cold weather if conditions are right. |
A "superior mirage" occurs when air below your line of sight is colder than the air above it. Light rays are bent upward, so items below the horizon can be seen above it. Such was the case in Dalhart a couple of times last December. On December 15, 2013, a line of clouds on the western horizon served as a backdrop to the mirage. Reflecting the color of the ground, this line of clouds looked like a small mountain range. Here and there, grain silos, barns, and sprinkler systems were being reflected up into the air.
Those are just two examples of the fascinating things that you can see and learn about in the creation around us.
High and low temperatures the past week:
July 8: 85, 60
July 9: 96, 62
July 10: 97, 64
July 11: 95, 65
July 12: 93, 65
July 13: 89, 66
July 14: 93, 65
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