Friday, August 1, 2014

august steps in... (am.01.aug.14)>

The visibility is very low due to fog at my location on Tushita Road just below the mountaineering center at the moment... but just 15 minutes ago there was no fog.  There were some light rain showers just before sunrise, which deposited 0.05" (1mm) in my gauge, and I'm recording an overnight low temp of 65.1F (18.4C).  Humidity is currently 95%.

Thanks to 9.90" (25.1cm) of rain during the last four days of July, the monthly total ended up at 38.25" (97.2cm) -- and that's slightly less than one inch ABOVE normal.  A week ago, it had looked like the deficit might be too much to overcome, but we really made a run for it during the final days of the month.  I have a report of 46.5" (118.1cm) near Norbulingka -- so the 'weak monsoon' that has been talked about all over the media is not the reality here in our immediate area.

Variable and changeable conditions are going to be the story for us as we head into the weekend and early next week.  The overall moisture content of this air mass, averaged throughout the various layers, is projected to decrease slightly.  That decrease has already been enough to provide us with some short sunny breaks the last day or two, and I think we'll see more rapid swings between clouds, fog and peeks of sunshine during the coming several days.  In the midst of that, however, there will be some rain showers and thunder at times -- mainly during the mid-day into the afternoon/early evening hours.  A heavy downpour could occur as well, so don't get fooled by the sun.  Keep the rain gear handy.

CURRENT FORECAST specifics and other info can be found on tabs above.