Saturday, May 11, 2013

the wild side... (am.11.may.13)>

*Update @ 3:43pm...  My rain gauge is now showing 1.16" (2.9cm) since about 12:30pm.  It's still raining lightly, but the widespread shower/thunderstorm action seems to be diminishing for now.  Current temp: 60.1F (15.6C).

*Update @ 2:13pm... Thunder and a few light showers started up again just after 12:30pm, with a major downpour and even some small hail between about 1:00 and 1:30pm.  Light to moderate rain is still going on.  Just arrived home to find 0.90" (2.2cm) in the rain gauge here in the upper part of town.  Satellite pics show us on the northwest edge of a massive area of thunderstorms which is covering nearly all of Himachal -- movement of all of this is hard to determine, as the upper-level circulation is basically right overhead right now.  And talk about natural air conditioning: my thermometer shows 54.5F (12.5C), which is about 30F/17C cooler than this time yesterday afternoon!

*Update @ 9:42am... There are thick clouds around at the moment, but also a few glimpses of sun breaking through.  Scattered thunderstorms could redevelop at any time, as this upper-level disturbance/circulation moves into Punjab in the next few hours.  Current temp: 70.9F (21.6C), humidity: 39%.

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Well that was a rude awakening, after the serene summer weather of the past several days.  A large batch of thunderstorms which developed last evening over Punjab lifted northeastward overnight, providing us with thunder, lightning, very strong wind gusts, and 0.16" (4mm) of rain.  Very warm temps late last evening dropped like a rock during the showers and wind -- I'm recording a low temp of 57.6F (14.2C) which occurred very briefly before the thermometer rebounded to 68F (20C) at 7am.

The center of a rather tightly wound upper-level disturbance is very close to the Pakistan/Punjab border early this morning, and will move into northern India today, where it will stall out and gradually weaken.  This will keep our atmosphere unstable through the entire weekend, with the potential for shower and/or thunderstorm development at virtually any time of the day or night.  Keep a close eye on rapidly changing conditions if you have outdoor plans -- there should be some stretches of good weather as well, just be ready to run for shelter if/when necessary.

The moisture content of this air mass is still marginal at best, but computer models are still hinting at some significant rainfall totals before the weekend is finished -- on the order of 3/4" (2cm) perhaps.  A decent rainfall is always a very precious thing during the middle of the pre-monsoon dry season.

Temperatures will be quite a bit cooler both today and Sunday than they've been the last four or five days, so we'll get to enjoy a bit of natural air conditioning for a brief spell.... before summer temps creep back in next week.

The CURRENT FORECAST is available on the tab above -- and I'll do my best to post updates if/when crazy weather redevelops.