After several wild swings today, we're back to partly cloudy skies this evening, with a couple of thundershowers still in progress over northwestern Himachal Pradesh. We had bright sunshine early this morning -- an explosion of clouds between 9:00 and 10:00am -- an intense period of rain and thunder from 11:15am until about 1:30pm (which included some brief fog) -- a return to stunning sunshine for the remainder of the afternoon -- and now, a mix of clouds and sun. I recorded a massive 1.70" (4.3cm) of rain during our mid-day downpour, along with temps which dropped from a high of 80.8F (27.1C) before the deluge, to a chilly 63.3F (17.4C) in the midst of it.
So... it has been quite a day... and this is what the pre-monsoon season is all about. Today's mammoth downpour and accompanying fog was very characteristic of monsoon conditions, but then the rapid return to sunshine and much lower humidity was not. For a long time now, I've been talking about the transitional, mixed bag, in-between character of this period of time (sometimes days, sometimes a few weeks) before the monsoon establishes itself. It's crazy how wildly and dizzyingly things can change during this phase.
Deep, rich tropical moisture is still being prevented from claiming northwest India, thanks to a west-northwestly flow which remains in control in the middle and upper atmosphere. However, there is enough low-level humidity surging back and forth from the southeast to keep us in line for more occasional shower and thundershower action. Remain braced for sudden changes -- although there are still indications that the risk of these downpours could diminish over the weekend into early next week.
So... it has been quite a day... and this is what the pre-monsoon season is all about. Today's mammoth downpour and accompanying fog was very characteristic of monsoon conditions, but then the rapid return to sunshine and much lower humidity was not. For a long time now, I've been talking about the transitional, mixed bag, in-between character of this period of time (sometimes days, sometimes a few weeks) before the monsoon establishes itself. It's crazy how wildly and dizzyingly things can change during this phase.
Deep, rich tropical moisture is still being prevented from claiming northwest India, thanks to a west-northwestly flow which remains in control in the middle and upper atmosphere. However, there is enough low-level humidity surging back and forth from the southeast to keep us in line for more occasional shower and thundershower action. Remain braced for sudden changes -- although there are still indications that the risk of these downpours could diminish over the weekend into early next week.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT:
partly cloudy skies. a thundershower in the area?
low: 20C (68F)
THURSDAY:
a mix of sunshine and clouds. good chance of a period of rain and thunder at some point during the day.
high: 27C (81F)
THURSDAY NIGHT:
risk of a thundershower... otherwise partly cloudy.
low: 21C (70F)
FRIDAY:
sunshine and occasional clouds. a thunderstorm possible, mainly in the PM.
high: 28C (83F)
SATURDAY:
sunny to partly cloudy and unseasonably warm. chance of a PM thundershower.
morning low: 22C (72F)
daytime high: 29C (84F)
SUNDAY:
hazy sun and a few clouds. too warm for JULY.
morning low: 23C (73F)
daytime high: 29C (85F)
MONDAY:
hazy sun and a few clouds. still unseasonably warm.
morning low: 23C (74F)
daytime high: 29C (85F)
