Sunday, February 9, 2014

this week's threats... (pm.09.feb.14)>

Sunday's stats:

Low temp: 39.2F (4.0C)
High temp: 49.1F (9.5C)
Precipitation: trace

It's very gloomy at sunset this evening, thanks to lots of clouds and fog which are still holding on -- a far cry from the bright sunshine we were enjoying during the first couple of hours of the morning.  As anticipated, clouds gradually began developing by the late morning, and though we had some glimpses of sun until around 1:30pm, the rest of the day has been cloudy and foggy, with even a brief light rain shower between 4:00 and 4:30pm (nothing measurable in the rain gauge).  Today's high temp occurred right around noon, then temps settled back into the mid-40s(F) for most of the afternoon.

If you are waiting for some signs of spring, I am afraid I'm the bearer of bad news.  Ever since our major weather pattern change occurred exactly one week ago, we've been in the midst of a much colder, cloudier and damper pattern than we had enjoyed during the final week of January and the first day or two of February.  In fact, today has been the sixth day in a row that the temperature failed to reach 50F (10C) at my location in the upper part of town.  At the same time, we've got unseasonably cold air in the upper atmosphere in association with a still-active upper-level pattern that is keeping the lingering moisture here along the front slopes of the mountains rising and condensing into clouds and even isolated showers by the mid-day and afternoon hours.

This situation is not really going to change for the better at all this week.  There is a new disturbance on the way for late tomorrow into Tuesday which will provide more clouds and the risk of some rain and/or snow showers in our vicinity, as temperatures cool down even further.  We could get a bit more sun, along with some slightly milder temps on Wednesday into Thursday, but then things will go downhill again by the end of the week.

All of the computer model guidance is looking more aggressive with the development of a strong storm system over northern India by Friday into Saturday.  Many things can change by then, but right now there are projections of moderate to heavy rain and snow in our area, with a freezing level that looks much lower than we've seen this whole winter season.  Our active February continues on...

CURRENT FORECAST details can be found on the tab at the top of the page.