The series of images making up the historical image gallery typically consists of:

• Image spectrum consisting of a series of Excellent to Very Poor regional haze conditions, corresponding to deciview increments of the Visibility Index scale.

• Seasonal images representative of pristine, scenic, or meteorological interest.

• Unique representations of layered haze, regional haze, or pollution episodes of significant importance.

The Superstition Mountains image gallery was last updated in May 2004. Check this page again for future updates.

Image Spectrum:
The following images have been selected to represent regional haze conditions corresponding to the Excellent to Very Poor categories of the Visibility Index Scale.

A clean December day with excellent visibility throughout the Phoenix monitoring region.

Typical good visibility day in February with a slight milky appearance of regional haze over the Superstition Mountains monitoring vista.

Typical fair visibility day in October with a moderate appearance of regional haze over the Superstition Mountains monitoring vista.

Poor visibility day with significant enough regional haze throughout the Superstition Mountains monitoring vista that the Superstition Mountains ridgeline is barely visible, April.

Very poor visibility day in April with significant regional haze throughout the Superstition Mountains monitoring vista. Note the Superstition Mountains ridgeline is no longer visible.

Seasonal Images
The following images are representative of pristine, scenic, or meteorological observances of interest.

Pristine Event: December 16, 2003

Pristine Event: December 16, 2003

Example of excellent visibility representative of the Superstition Mountains monitoring vista. This image was taken at 10:00 a.m. on December 16, 2003.

Example of excellent visibility representative of the Superstition Mountains monitoring vista. This image was taken at 11:15 a.m. on December 16, 2003.

Pristine Event: December 16, 2003

Pristine Event: December 16, 2003

Example of excellent visibility representative of the Superstition Mountains monitoring vista. This image was taken at 12:00 a.m. on December 16, 2003.

Example of excellent visibility representative of the Superstition Mountains monitoring vista. This image was taken at 4:00 p.m. on December 16, 2003.

Scenic

Scenic

Example of a typical morning sunrise for the Superstition Mountains monitoring vista. This image was taken at 6:30 a.m. on October 1, 2003.

Example of an early morning skyline for the Superstition Mountains monitoring vista. This image was taken at 6:15 a.m. on October 28, 2003.

Scenic

Scenic

Example of a typical morning sunrise for the Superstition Mountains monitoring vista. This image was taken at 7:15 a.m. on January 3, 2004.

Example of a scenic day with good visibility for the Superstition Mountains monitoring vista. This image was taken at 3:45 p.m. on January 15, 2004.

Scenic

Scenic

Example of a scenic day with good visibility for the Superstition Mountains monitoring vista. This image was taken at 5:45 p.m. on February 4, 2004.

Scenic moon rise over the Superstition Mountains. This image was taken at 7:45 p.m. on March 7, 2004.

Unique Superstition Mountains Gallery Images:
The following images are representative of observed layered haze, regional haze, or pollution episodes of significant importance.

Layered Haze

Layered Haze

December 15, 2003, 8:00 a.m.

January 29, 2004, 9:00 a.m.

Representative ground-based layered haze impacting the Phoenix metro region, as seen from the Superstition Mountains monitoring vista, viewing 90° east.

Representative ground-based layered haze impacting the Phoenix metro region, as seen from the Superstition Mountains monitoring vista, viewing 90° east.

Layered Haze

Layered Haze Event: October 11, 2003

7:15 a.m.

7:45 a.m.

9:15 a.m.

A layered haze event impacted visibility on October 11, 2003. The above morning Images depict multiple layered hazes as seen from the Superstition Mountains monitoring vista, viewing 90° east.

Layered Haze

Layered Haze Event: December 2, 2003 through December 4, 2003

December 2, 2003,
10:00 a.m.

December 3, 2003,
10:00 a.m.

December 4, 2003,
10:00 a.m.

Representative layered and regional haze event that impacted morning visibility seen from both the Estrella Mountains and Superstition Mountains (above) Web cameras.

Layered Haze

Layered Haze Event: March 7, 2004

March 7, 2004,
7:30 a.m.

March 7, 2004,
8:30 a.m.

March 7, 2004,
9:30 a.m.

March 7, 2004,
10:30 a.m.

A layered and regional haze event occurred during the morning of March 7, 2004 that could be observed from several Phoenix visibility Web cameras. Hourly interval images depicting visibility as seen from the Superstition Mountains monitoring vista are shown above

Regional Haze

Regional Haze Event: January 29, 2004 through January 30, 2004

January 29, 2004,
8:00 a.m.

January 29, 2004,
10:00 a.m.

January 29, 2004,
12:00 p.m.

January 29, 2004,
2:00 p.m.

January 30, 2004,
8:00 a.m.

January 30, 2004,
10:00 a.m.

January 30, 2004,
12:00 p.m.

January 30, 2004,
2:00 p.m.

January 30, 2004,
4:00 p.m.

A representative regional haze event occurred January 29 through 30, 2004 that could be seen from several Phoenix visibility Web cameras. Images depicting visibility as seen from the Superstition Mountains monitoring vista, viewing 90° east are shown above

Regional Haze Event: April 20, 2004 through April 22, 2004

April 20, 2004,
10:00 a.m.

April 20, 2004,
2:00 p.m.

April 21, 2004,
10:00 a.m.

April 21, 2004,
2:00 p.m.

April 22, 2004,
8:00 a.m.

April 22, 2004,
10:00 a.m.

April 22, 2004,
2:00 p.m.

A representative regional haze event impacted visibility April 20 through April 22, 2004. The above images depict visibility as seen from the Superstition Mountains monitoring vista, viewing 90° east.

Pollution Episode
Blue River Complex Fire: July 13, 2003 through August 10, 2003

July 29, 2003,
7:30 am

July 30, 2003,
7:30 am

July 31, 2003,
7:30 am

The 18,575-acre Blue River Complex fire included two lightning-caused fires and a blaze contained in June. The fire was located over 200 miles east of Phoenix and approximately 18 miles south of Alpine, Arizona. July 29 through 31, 2003 smoke and reduced visibility that was observed from the Superstition Mountains Web camera during the containment phase of the fire is depicted above.

Pollution Episode

Southern California Wildfire Impacts: October 26 through November 9, 2003
In October of 2003, Southern California experienced the most devastating wildland fire disaster in state history. Over 750,000 acres burned. Smoke from the wildfires caused unhealthy levels of particulate pollution in a large expanse of Southern California and the Southwestern United States. Visibility in the Phoenix region was noticeably impacted from October 26 through November 9, 2003.

Below are daily 9:30 a.m. images depicting visibility conditions observed from the Superstition Mountains Web camera from October 26 through November 2, 2003.

October 26, 2003,
9:30 a.m.

October 27, 2003,
9:30 a.m.

October 28, 2003,
9:30 a.m.

October 29, 2003,
9:30 a.m.

October 30, 2003,
9:30 a.m.

October 31, 2003,
9:30 a.m.

November 1, 2003,
9:30 a.m.

November 2, 2003,
9:30 a.m.

Below are daily 5:15 p.m. images depicting visibility conditions observed from the Superstition Mountains Web camera from October 30 through November 10, 2003.

October 30, 2003,
5:15 p.m.

October 31, 2003,
5:15 p.m.

November 1, 2003,
5:15 p.m.

November 2, 2003,
5:15 p.m.

November 3, 2003,
5:15 p.m.

November 4, 2003,
5:15 p.m.

November 5, 2003,
5:15 p.m.

November 6, 2003,
5:15 p.m.

November 7, 2003,
5:15 p.m.

November 8, 2003,
5:15 p.m.

November 9, 2003,
5:15 p.m.

November 10, 2003,
5:15 p.m.