Tuesday, February 4, 2014

a short respite... (am.04.feb.14)>

The clouds have broken up a bit in the last couple of hours before sunrise, after a night of several short periods of showers, thunder and lightning.  My rain gauge is showing an additional 0.13" (3mm) since about 8:20pm -- and that brings the total rainfall since very early yesterday (Mon) morning to 0.39" (1.0cm).  That's only about half the amount the computer models were predicting for this time period.  The overnight low temp here on Tushita Road below the mountaineering center has been 41.9F (5.5C), and humidity has now dropped back down to about 57%.

We're probably going to get a respite from the rain for a while, but it doesn't look like it's going to last long.  What's left of our initial disturbance is moving off to the east early this morning, but there is another one in its wake -- and another one after that and yet another one after that one.  As I've mentioned, this new upper-level pattern is embedded with pulses of dynamic energy and circulations, and we'll be having a kind of parade of those all the way into the weekend.  Here along the leading edge of the big Himalayan ranges we'll be right on the line between much colder air to the north, and surges of milder air containing plenty of moisture just to the south.  So -- as this parade of upper-level disturbances moves through during the coming five days or so, we've got at least three good chances to see more development of significant rainfall.  Of course we'll always have to keep our eyes on the freezing level and snow line as well.

The next period of rain could begin as early as this afternoon, lasting into mid-day Wednesday.  After that, the strongest system of all will be making its approach on Thursday afternoon into Saturday.  Timing could of course change -- so check back here as we try to keep track of all this activity...

CURRENT FORECAST details are available on the tab at the top of the page.