Friday, May 17, 2013

himalayan summer... (am.17.may.13)>

*Update @ 2:45pm... The development of cumulus clouds over the mountains has been much less impressive thus far this afternoon, so it looks like we may get away without any thunder between now and sunset.  My high temp in the upper part of town has reached 84.4F (29.1C), and it could still rise a bit more during the next hour or two.

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Our Friday morning is starting off with unlimited sunshine, apart from a bit of light haze.  Humidity stands at 34%, and I've recorded a pre-dawn low temperature of 65.3F (18.5C).  There has been a trace of rainfall during the past 24 hours, thanks to those brief light showers during the middle of yesterday afternoon.

The big question today is whether or not there will be enough instability again this afternoon to generate an isolated light thundershower over the mountains.  Although a mammoth ridge of high pressure is pushing in from the south and southwest, it's been hard to scour out the left-over pockets of colder air aloft which are hanging over the Dhauladhars.  Hazy sunshine should be the main theme today, just don't be surprised if there is a build-up of clouds and some rumbles of thunder again for a while this afternoon.

Temperatures will leap upward at least a couple of degrees today, and then rise even further over the weekend and into early next week as this big bubble of summertime high pressure finally establishes itself across a vast majority of the Indian subcontinent.  The air mass will be very dry for at least several days, with temps far beyond the warmest we've yet seen this year (85.6F/29.8C here at my location on the 10th of May).  Be sure to drink plenty of water, and always have reserves with you if you're going to be out in the sun for an extended length of time.

Details can be found on the CURRENT FORECAST tab above.