Thursday's stats:
Low temp: 52.9F (11.6C)
High temp: 60.1F (15.6C)
Rainfall: none
There's some light haze in the air, otherwise we have totally clear skies as the light fades in the west this evening. Very few of those high, thin cirrus clouds made it into northern India today, leaving us with almost totally sunny conditions here in our area. The inversion issues have definitely kicked in below us, however, and you only had to gaze down toward Dharamsala, Gaggal and Kangra to see the layer of trapped haze, smoke and dust. Temperatures at my location on Tushita Road just below the mountaineering center have been fairly steady during the last three days, as humidity ranges between 35 and 48%.
As we've been discussing recently, a massive bubble of warmer air in the upper-levels of the atmosphere has been building into northwest India -- effectively trapping a shallow layer of cooler air in the lower-levels. This kind of stability puts a cap on the normal upward vertical motion of the air mass during the daylight hours, which keeps all of the built up dust and pollutants stuck near the ground. This phenomenon is really more of a problem downhill from us toward the plains, but we're catching a bit of the haze at our elevation as well. As some slightly cooler air moves in aloft over the weekend, the air should begin to stir a bit, which could break up the inversion. We shall see.
Otherwise, this is a typically calm and quiet weather pattern for the latter half of November, and it appears that we have little if any chance of rainfall during the next week or more. Upper-level energy approaching from the west doesn't seem like it will ever be able to penetrate the high pressure ridge in place... and decent moisture is lacking anyway. Still anticipating a moderate rise in temps here at our elevation as we head into the weekend...
Explore the rest of the blog for other info, including THE 7-DAY OUTLOOK tab at the top of the page.
Low temp: 52.9F (11.6C)
High temp: 60.1F (15.6C)
Rainfall: none
There's some light haze in the air, otherwise we have totally clear skies as the light fades in the west this evening. Very few of those high, thin cirrus clouds made it into northern India today, leaving us with almost totally sunny conditions here in our area. The inversion issues have definitely kicked in below us, however, and you only had to gaze down toward Dharamsala, Gaggal and Kangra to see the layer of trapped haze, smoke and dust. Temperatures at my location on Tushita Road just below the mountaineering center have been fairly steady during the last three days, as humidity ranges between 35 and 48%.
As we've been discussing recently, a massive bubble of warmer air in the upper-levels of the atmosphere has been building into northwest India -- effectively trapping a shallow layer of cooler air in the lower-levels. This kind of stability puts a cap on the normal upward vertical motion of the air mass during the daylight hours, which keeps all of the built up dust and pollutants stuck near the ground. This phenomenon is really more of a problem downhill from us toward the plains, but we're catching a bit of the haze at our elevation as well. As some slightly cooler air moves in aloft over the weekend, the air should begin to stir a bit, which could break up the inversion. We shall see.
Otherwise, this is a typically calm and quiet weather pattern for the latter half of November, and it appears that we have little if any chance of rainfall during the next week or more. Upper-level energy approaching from the west doesn't seem like it will ever be able to penetrate the high pressure ridge in place... and decent moisture is lacking anyway. Still anticipating a moderate rise in temps here at our elevation as we head into the weekend...
Explore the rest of the blog for other info, including THE 7-DAY OUTLOOK tab at the top of the page.
