Saturday, May 26, 2012

character of summer... (pm.26.may.12)>

We have a combination of clouds and hazy sunshine on this Saturday evening.  It has been a few degrees cooler today, but still squarely in the summertime category, with a high temp of 81.3F (27.4C) at my location in the upper part of town.  Although we had occasional thunder and some brief light showers between about 5:00am and noon, I barely measured 0.01"/less than 1mm of rain.  Maybe there were a few spots around the area that picked up something a little more substantial.

According to satellite images, our latest upper-level disturbance is centered over the northwest corner of Kashmir this evening, and weakening as it drifts to the east-northeast.  The reason for our instability of the past 18 hours or so is cold air aloft in association with this system -- and this slightly unstable situation will persist into Sunday, keeping the mention of a passing shower or thunderstorm in the forecast.  I'm still not expecting any significant amounts of rain, but keep in mind the continuing risk of something popping up.

It looks like a general ridge of high pressure will dominate our weather pattern once again starting on Monday.  We should see a fairly stable air mass in place, allowing plenty of hazy sunshine, along with temperatures bouncing back within very close striking distance of 90F/32C by the middle of the week.  Unless something really unexpected happens, we should be able to chalk up May 2012 as drier and warmer than average...

SATURDAY NIGHT:
partly cloudy.  risk of a thundershower developing.
low: 21C (69F)

SUNDAY:
both sunshine and occasional clouds.  a passing thundershower possible.
high: 29C (84F)

SUNDAY NIGHT:
an isolated evening thundershower?  otherwise becoming mostly clear.
low: 21C (70F)

MONDAY:
sunny to partly cloudy and warmer.  some PM mountain thunder?
high: 31C (87F)

TUESDAY:
very warm, with hazy sunshine and a few clouds.
morning low: 22C (72F)
daytime high: 32C (89F)

WEDNESDAY:
very warm with hazy sun.
morning low: 23C (73F)
daytime high: 32C (90F)

THURSDAY:
a mix of hazy and a few clouds.  summery warmth continues.
morning low: 23C (74F)
daytime high: 32C (90F)