Friday, April 14, 2017

a preview of may... (pm.14.apr.17)>

Friday's stats:

Low temp: 63.9F (17.7C)
High temp: 81.0F (27.2C)
Rainfall: none

It's mostly clear this evening before sunset, though satellite pics show a long line of thundershowers extending from central Himachal Pradesh near Mandi, all the way southeastward to the Kathmandu Valley.  We managed to miss out on any of that action in our area today, with a mix of sunshine and occasional moderate cumulus development over and along the mountains.  Temperatures were slightly warmer than expected, about 1ºF/0.6ºC, but enough to continue our recent warming trend, and take us to a new high for the season and the year.

The building heat wave across most of the northern two-thirds of India is already an impressive one, and will become even more incredible over the coming several days.  It's going to feel like the height of the summer season by Monday into Tuesday of next week, with temps more like what we would experience during mid- to late May.  Here at our elevation it will still be tolerable, but in the lowlands south of us, it's already starting to get downright oppressive.  The last two days, our local airport in Gaggal (just down the hill) has reported high temps in the range of 94ºF/34ºC!!

Right now it looks like the unseasonable heat won't be lasting for very long, however, as yet another significant pattern change is in the forecast for late next week.  Temperatures will start to cool by Friday into Saturday, with an increasing risk of some showers and thunderstorms during that timeframe as well...