Friday, May 20, 2016

empty threats?... (pm.20.may.16)>

Friday's stats:

Low temp: 69.4F (20.8C)
High temp: 82.0F (27.8C)
Rainfall: trace

Our sky has been looking ominous and threatening since around 2:00pm, and has looked even more scary since around 5:00pm, but other than some very gusty winds at times, occasional lightning and rolling thunder, and a few fleeting very light showers, it hasn't really amounted to much -- as of yet.  All bark and very little bite.  This convective development is very high-based, as we can easily tell by being able to see the peaks of the Dhauladhars... and precipitation has been spotty.  Sunshine was much more limited today, with humidity rising above 50%, and that kept our temps well below expectations.  In fact, it was the "coolest" day since last Thursday, the 12th.

Moisture has surged northwestward into northern India during the past 24 hours, just as a weak disturbance in the upper atmosphere slides in from central Asia.  We were expecting the instability which developed yesterday evening to last through today, but I wasn't expecting such extensive cloudiness -- and on the other hand -- would have expected any thundershower development to produce measurable rain, which has not yet happened.  This convective/thunder stuff should calm down later tonight, but we may still get something in the rain gauge before things stabilize.

A very warm air mass is still in place, so it's a roll of the dice over the weekend as to whether we'll be pushing 90ºF/32ºC again, or perhaps staying several degrees cooler, due to this more humid airmass interacting with the mountains to produce more clouds.  Isolated thundershowers remain a possibility, with a better chance of more significant rainfall between Monday afternoon and Tuesday, as a stronger system moves in.

Peruse the tabs at the top of the page for much more info, including THE 7-DAY OUTLOOK...