Thursday, January 17, 2019

mild, with increasing clouds... (pm.17.jan.19)>

Thursday's stats:

Low temp: 41.9ºF (5.5ºC)
High temp: 53.3ºF (11.8ºC)
Precipitation: none

It's been a gorgeous mid-January, mid-winter day, with tons of sunshine and only a few PM mountain cumulus clouds.  Temperatures are running just a bit above normal for the season.

Although we're going to be seeing an increase in mainly high cloudiness starting tomorrow (Fri), a milder airmass is surging northward at the same time, and depending on the interplay between clouds and sun, we could be seeing some unseasonably warm temperatures over this coming weekend.  All of this is happening in advance of an evolving/developing winter storm system which is heading our way next week, and just might hang around for at least four or five days.

The center of that developing upper-level low pressure system is located over the southeastern Caspian Sea right now -- and of course that is a long distance to our west-northwest.  Computer models are tracking this system into the western Himalayas by late Sunday into Monday, as it pulls moisture northward ahead of it.  At the same time, the coldest air of this winter season will be drawn into the mix, setting the stage for a potentially significant winter storm event in our area starting very late Sunday night or Monday.  It is way too early to pin down a rain/snow line, but it certainly seems likely that there will be huge amounts of snow along the Dhauladhar range... and that's great news.