Sunday, March 29, 2015

backward steps... (am.29.mar.15)>

It has begun.  We have mostly cloudy skies at sunrise this morning, and already there has been a significant round of showers and thundershowers which moved in shortly after 2:00am.  My rain gauge is showing 0.45" (1.1cm), though the rain seems to have stopped for now.  Temperatures have indeed been on a roller-coaster -- I'm recording a low of 51.6F (10.9C) which occurred during the rain, but it's bounced back up to 60.6F (15.9C) as of 6:50am.

An upper-level circulation over Afghanistan is the culprit behind this unpleasant turn of events, weather-wise.  The big ridge of springtime high pressure which brought us more than a week and a half of warm and beautiful conditions is now breaking down as this major change in the upper-level pattern occurs.  Although I am hopeful that we'll still be able to squeeze out some periods of sunshine here and there, the scenario for the next week or so is looking very unsettled and unstable, as several waves of upper-level energy combined with batches of moisture move across northern India.  This will keep us dealing with periods of rain and thunderstorms almost on a daily basis.  I'm still not expecting it to rain all day, every day -- but according to the latest data, we should get at least some measurable rainfall each 24-hour period all the way through at least Saturday.

Our temps are taking a hit as well.  We've been several degrees above averages for the season during the past week, but now it's going in the other direction.  As April arrives, our normal/average high is around 71ºF/22ºC -- but I am almost certain that after today, we won't be anywhere close to that through at least Easter Sunday, which is one week from today.  Hopefully we won't have to haul out the heaters and winter jackets again, but it's going to be on the raw and chilly side compared to what we've recently enjoyed...

THE 7-DAY OUTLOOK tab above has the details.