Monday, May 2, 2016

genuine stuff of summer... (pm.02.may.16)>

Monday's stats:

Low temp: 69.4F (20.8C)
High temp: 88.5F (31.4C)
Rainfall: none

High clouds are increasing from the west-southwest early this evening, otherwise we have hazy skies across the area.  It's been yet another day featuring a predominance of hazy sunshine, with only a few scattered cumulus clouds in the vicinity of the mountain peaks during the afternoon hours.  And for the third consecutive day, we've achieved a new high temp for the season and the year.  In fact, today's high was about 9ºF (5ºC) above the normal/average high for the 2nd of May -- and more in line with what we would expect during the last week of this month.  In other words, we're experiencing mid-summer warmth earlier than we normally do.

But it's looking like we've peaked -- at least for this first surge of genuine summertime heat this year -- with a changing pattern kicking in for the remainder of the week.  A couple of things are happening.  First, an upper-level disturbance and circulation center over eastern Iran is heading our way.  Second, a batch of tropical moisture is being drawn northeastward from the Arabian Sea into parts of Pakistan and northwest India.  This will set us up for increasing clouds during the coming 12-18 hours, and then an increasing chance of some scattered shower and thunderstorm action between late Tuesday and Friday.  As I mentioned last night at this time, we're not talking about lengthy, all-day rains.  What we need to be prepared for is a better probability of off-and-on rain showers and possible thunderstorms, in the midst of alternating clouds and sunshine.  Humidity has been very low for a long time now, and I think we'll notice the rising moisture in the air as the week goes along.

Temperatures should settle back closer to normal for the first part of May, but the increasing humidity may counter the effects of that.  Anyway, I think it's clear that summertime weather has now entrenched itself in Himachal Pradesh for 2016...

Check out all the forecast details on THE 7-DAY OUTLOOK tab at the top of the page.