Friday, July 20, 2012

sun/stars vs. downpours... (pm.20.jul.12)>

We have a partly cloudy, warm and humid evening in progress, after another one of those days with some wild swings between horrendous and beautiful.  Sunshine early this morning gave way to rapidly increasing clouds and some fog by mid-morning, then an impressive period of rain and thunder between about 9:45am and 11:15am.  I picked up 1.03" (2.6cm) on Tushita Road just below the mountaineering center, bringing our monsoon total to 15.12" (38.4cm).  Apart from the coolness in the midst of the rain, it has been another warmer-than-normal day... with a high of 79.7F (26.5C).

Things have definitely been more active across much of northern India today... with areas of showers and thundershowers scattered from parts of Himachal and Punjab eastward into Uttar Pradesh.  This is evidence that the deeper tropical moisture is making yet another attempt to surge northwestward.  Winds in the middle and upper-levels of the atmosphere are gradually turning around more to the south, and eventually southeast, which is going to transport juicy air further into our territory over the weekend into early next week.  As of now, we obviously haven't arrived back at the full saturation point (thus, the lack of persistent fog), but I feel fairly confident that we'll get there during the coming 24-36 hours.

Periods of rainfall will be easily able to produce an inch (2.5cm) or more during a period of just an hour or two during the coming days... and I think it is quite likely that we'll get some even heavier downpours between now and the middle of next week.  I'll go out on a limb and say that we could add at least 6" (15cm) to our July rainfall tally by Wednesday...

FRIDAY NIGHT:
partly cloudy... watching for more rain/thunder development overnight.
low: 20C (68F)

SATURDAY:
both clouds and some peeks of sun.  a period or two of fog, rain and thunder likely.
high: 24C (75F)

SATURDAY NIGHT:
partly to mostly cloudy with a period or two of fog, rain and thunder likely.
low: 19C (67F)

SUNDAY:
a few glimpses of sun... otherwise mostly cloudy and foggy at times.  a couple of rounds of rain and thunder likely.
high: 23C (74F)

MONDAY:
mostly cloudy with occasional fog.  periods of rain and thunder likely.
morning low: 19C (66F)
daytime high: 22C (72F)

TUESDAY:
clouds, fog, occasional rain and thunder.
morning low: 18C (65F)
daytime high: 21C (71F)

WEDNESDAY:
clouds, fog, and some sunny breaks.  a period or two of rain and thunder likely.
morning low: 18C (65F)
daytime high: 23C (73F)