variety prevails... (pm.02.may.14)>

Friday's stats:

Low temp: 67.3F (19.6C)
High temp: 81.5F (27.5C)
Rainfall: trace

It's mostly cloudy just before sunset this evening, and there have been some sprinkles and very light rain shower in the area during the past hour or so.  Full sunshine this morning yielded again to a rapid build-up of clouds over the mountains around the noon hour, with some rumbles of thunder by 1:00pm or so.  There was then more thunder and a few sprinkles/light showers during the mid-afternoon, and again this evening.  The rainfall hasn't been enough to register a measurement, just wetting the ground and settling the dust a bit.  My high temperature this afternoon matches the high for the season and the year, first recorded on Wednesday.

Well, it's pretty clear that our atmosphere has destabilized during the past couple of days, and this is the general scenario that we're going to be faced with for the foreseeable future.  The warmest air mass of the year is in place across nearly all of south Asia in the lowest layers of the atmosphere, while some pockets of colder air aloft continue to drift through in the very light flow at higher levels.  There is also an increasing amount of latent moisture in this May air mass -- providing some fuel for the mainly afternoon instability to produce scattered showers and thundershowers.

Right now it looks like this daily cycle will repeat itself over and over again, all the way through at least the middle of next week.  There will be a good amount of sunshine in the midst of the occasional cloud build-ups and shower/thunder episodes, but be prepared for rapid changes, especially during the PM hours.  Temperatures should remain on the very warm side for the most part... with some periods of natural air conditioning kicking in during these passing showers.

CURRENT FORECAST info can be found on the tab above.

summer character... (am.02.may.14)>

There are a few thin patches of high cirrus clouds around the area, otherwise we have mostly clear skies just before sunrise on this second morning of May.  Our overnight temperatures have remained very mild -- my low temp has been 67.3F (19.6C) -- and there has been no rainfall since last report.  The humidity stands at 32%.

The upper-air pattern has changed so dramatically in the last couple of weeks, fast-forwarding us into summertime after many weeks of languishing in an in-between phase.  The main issue is that the stronger upper-level steering currents (also known as the jet stream) have shifted way to our north, as a general ridge of high pressure has established itself across a large part of south Asia.  This has provided us with significantly warmer temperatures the last week to ten days or so, while keeping us clear of any major storm systems.

But now we have the more nuanced issues of the summer/pre-monsoon season to deal with, which center on subtle differences in temperatures between different layers of the atmosphere which can trigger pockets of instability along the mountains.  Some slightly cooler air aloft has already started to move in during the past 24-36 hours or so, and with very warm air in the lower-levels, it looks like we're going to be dealing with daily episodes of cloud build-up and shower/thundershower development over the mountains.  Some of that will occasionally sneak downhill and affect us, so we're going to have to be prepared for that through the weekend into at least the middle of next week.

We could see our temperatures drop several degrees in the event of a significant round of thundershowers at some point, otherwise intermittent sunshine will keep this air mass seasonably warm.

CURRENT FORECAST details are available on the tab above.

becoming less stable... (pm.01.may.14)>

Thursday's stats:

Low temp: 67.5F (19.7C)
High temp: 81.0F (27.2C)
Rainfall: trace

There are some light showers hovering along the mountains this evening, with partly to mostly cloudy skies at the moment.  Morning sunshine gave way to a very rapid increase in clouds over the mountains around noon, which led to a brief period of light showers just before 1:00pm.  The afternoon was generally partly cloudy, but then some fresh shower development uphill from us around 4:30pm has led to a few more sprinkles and very light showers early this evening.  It was very warm again today -- but for the first time in the past eight days I did not record a new high temp for the year.

For several days we've been anticipating the return of some mountain instability, and that's exactly what we've seen happening today.  The lower layers of the atmosphere remain peaked at the warmest of this unfolding summer season, while some ever-so-subtle cooling occurs in the upper-levels.  With an increasing amount of latent moisture in the air, the situation is primed for some scattered mainly PM shower and thundershower activity in our vicinity -- and it looks like this basic pattern will continue for at least the next five or six days.

Intermittent sunshine will keep temperatures near or even slightly above normal for early May, but we'll likely get some temporary refreshing cool-downs in the event of thundershower episodes through the weekend into early next week.

Check out CURRENT FORECAST specifics on the tab above.

may in the himalayas... (am.01.may.14)>

The sun is shining brightly this morning, and temperatures are balmy already.  My overnight low here in the upper part of town has been just 67.5F (19.7C), which is several degrees warmer than normal for the first day of May.  Humidity is 32%, and there has been no rainfall since last report.

During the last ten days or so we've transitioned steadily from an unseasonably cool scenario to an unseasonably warm one -- and if you've been here to witness it, you know it's been quite dramatic.  The temperature on the Saturday before Easter barely reached 60F (18C), and now we're topping 80F (27C).  We've also had lots of sunshine on a daily basis since last weekend.

The massive ridge of summertime high pressure which has dominated north India recently is showing signs of breaking down a bit during the coming days, however.  Already there was enough instability returning yesterday afternoon to ignite some isolated shower and thunderstorm activity along the higher Himalayan chains.  This trend toward a more unstable/changeable situation will continue as we head into the weekend, and most likely into next week as well.  There will still be some nice periods of sunshine, along with temperatures that should remain in the normal or slightly above category -- just be aware of the increasing risk of a thundershower or two popping up mainly during the PM hours.

CURRENT FORECAST details are always available on the tab at the top of the page.