Thursday, May 8, 2014

a big warm-up... (pm.08.may.14)>

Thursday's stats:

Low temp: 60.6F (15.9C)
High temp: 78.8F (26.0C)
Rainfall: none

A beautiful evening is in progress, with mostly clear skies and pleasantly mild temperatures.  There was a moderate build-up of cumulus clouds over the mountains this afternoon, but they never developed further into thundershowers -- at least not in our immediate area.  That makes today the first day this month that we haven't had at least a few sprinkles of rain.  Sunshine and some gusty southerly winds gave our temps a big boost today, taking us above forecast highs and very close to 80F.

The upper-level pattern remains rather stagnant and uninteresting, and should stay that way until about the second half of the weekend.  It's still probably not a good idea to completely remove the risk of mainly PM shower/thunder development from the forecast tomorrow and Saturday, but it's still looking a bit more stable the next couple of days than it was earlier this week.  Temperatures have surged back close to normal for early May, and should remain seasonably warm through Saturday.

By Sunday, we're going to find ourselves on the brink of the next shift in the scenario.  The upper atmosphere is going to become more disturbed and unsettled, while a fresh batch of moisture approaches from the south and southwest.  Computer models are painting a rather bleak picture for much of next week, with a good chance of occasional showers and thunderstorms, along with temps which could cool off significantly.

Check the CURRENT FORECAST specifics on the tab above.