Monday, July 23, 2012

extra moist... (am.23.jul.12)>

We have mostly cloudy skies with some patchy fog in the area early on this Monday morning.  There was a round of very intense lightning and noisy thunder, along with 0.30" (8mm) of rain which moved through between about 2:45 and 4:00am or so -- that brings our total rainfall since about noon Sunday to 1.20" (3.0cm).  I recorded an overnight low temp of 68.5F (20.3C).

It looks like that deeper tropical moisture that we've been waiting for for several days has indeed arrived.  Only time will tell whether or not it is going to remain for longer than just a day or two or three -- but all of the data that I am able to access is indicating a nearly saturated air mass from the surface well into the middle and upper levels of the atmosphere for the vast majority of the coming week.  As long as some drier air from the west and northwest doesn't get pulled in, we should see a lot more cloudiness and fog this week than last, along with the potential for long-lasting and heavier amounts of rain.  Since late yesterday morning, it looks and feels much more like it should during late July.

Rainfall amounts are nearly impossible to nail down... but based on the amount of moisture in this air mass, the views from water vapor satellite imagery, and output from computer models, I think we could average more than an inch of rain per day this week.  But even if that happens, it looks like we'll still finish July with only about 70% of normal/average rainfall for the month.

MONDAY:
perhaps some glimpses of sun, otherwise mostly cloudy with occasional fog.  a period or two of rain and thunder likely.
high: 23C (73F)

MONDAY NIGHT:
mostly cloudy.  foggy at times, with a round of rain and thunder likely.
low: 20C (68F)

TUESDAY:
mostly cloudy and foggy.  a couple of periods of rain and thunder.
high: 23C (73F)

WEDNESDAY:
mostly cloudy and foggy.  occasional rain and some thunder.
morning low: 19C (67F)
daytime high: 22C (72F)

THURSDAY:
more clouds and fog... a couple of periods of rain and thunder.
morning low: 19C (66F)
daytime high: 23C (73F)

FRIDAY:
a mix of clouds, fog and some sun.  a few showers/thundershowers in the area.
morning low: 19C (66F)
daytime high: 23C (74F)