from warm to hot... (pm.08.may.17)>

Monday's stats:

Low temp: 70.2F (21.2C)
High temp: 89.6F (32.0C)
Rainfall: none

It's not very often in a typical summer season that we hit 32ºC, but that's exactly what happened today at my recording location in the upper part of McLeod Ganj.  That's only a bit below 90ºF -- a temperature that was reached only twice last summer, and wasn't reached at all during the summer of 2015.  So... if you thought it was hot today, you were absolutely correct.  There was even less cloud development over the mountains today than yesterday, allowing us pretty much unlimited sunshine to boost those temps.  This evening just before sunset, we're seeing some increasing cloudiness spreading in from the west, however.

Actually today we've been in an oasis of calm and quiet, with clusters of afternoon/evening thunderstorms evident on satellite pics literally in all directions from us.  We've had no precipitation at all since last Thursday, but it looks like the risk of some random shower and thunderstorm activity is going to be on the rise again between tonight and Wednesday evening.  Some slightly cooler air in the higher levels of the atmosphere is oozing in from the northwest, even now, and that's going to introduce a more unstable situation during this mid-week period.  A period of rain is really our only chance to get our temperatures to drop, which would probably not be such a bad thing.

So... there is the risk of some shower/thunder action, otherwise, expect alternations between clouds and sunshine through the rest of the week and even into the weekend.  Temperatures will remain in peak summer mode, on average, with the exception of the break(s) we might get during a round of thundershowers.

an 11-month high... (pm.07.may.17)>

Sunday's stats:

Low temp: 68.2F (20.1C)
High temp: 88.1F (31.2C)
Rainfall: none

I've been digging through my records and stats sheets just now, to find that the last time I recorded a high temp warmer than today was last year on the 4th of June, when it was 90.3ºF (32.4ºC).  So yes, today was the warmest day of the season and 2017, but also the warmest in nearly 11 months.  Sunshine here in our immediate area was almost unhindered throughout the day, though there was a very impressive build-up of mountain cumulus which eventually transformed into cumulonimbus (thunderstorms) in the higher elevations off to our north and northeast.  I heard just a couple of faint rumbles of thunder between about 4:45 and 5:15pm... but that was it.  As sunset approaches, that activity along the mountain peaks is disintegrating.

These are 'peak summer' temperatures we've experienced today, as it doesn't really get much warmer than this around here.  Our air mass should remain basically unchanged throughout this week, and maybe even into early next week, and that means we'd better get used to this very warm or HOT weather, depending on where you're from and your own personal perspective.  This pattern will be almost tropical by the the middle of the week, as some deeper moisture attempts to creep into our general vicinity from the southeast.  Honestly, it's too early to see that happening.

Shower and thunderstorm development will be hit-and-miss, isolated, random, widely scattered -- but with this kind of very warm air mass firmly entrenched, we'll need a round of thunderstorms to cool things down a bit.  Nights will quickly become uncomfortably warm if we don't get some kind of rain to help us out.

pushing 2017's warmest... (pm.06.may.17)>

Saturday's stats:

Low temp: 64.6F (18.1C)
High temp: 83.6F (28.7C)
Rainfall: none

Today's high temp was back within close striking distance of the warmest two days of 2017, which occurred back on the 20th and 21st of April (right around 86ºF/30ºC).  We did have some clouds around today -- both high cirrus and mountain cumulus -- but the sunshine ended up being the major player, while warmer air surged northward from the baking plains to our south.  As evening settles in, we have scattered clouds and temps just barely below 80ºF/27ºC.

All layers of our early May atmosphere are warming up, as a big bubble of summertime high pressure pushes northward across the Indian subcontinent.  However, as we've been discussing, there are projected to be several ripples and wiggles in the weak flow aloft in combination with some unusually moist air creeping in from the southeast as we move into the middle of next week.  So -- even though we will be dealing with some of the warmest temps of the year, there will still be the risk of a sudden round of showers/thunder, which could pop up out of nowhere one of these afternoons, or possibly during the overnight hours.  Be advised.

The pattern for the coming ten days to two weeks features little in the way of cooler central Asian air for us.  But if and when we do manage to get a round of showers and thunderstorms, we'll be able to enjoy some temporary air-conditioning in the midst of this encroaching summer heat...

summer surging... (pm.05.may.17)>

Friday's stats:

Low temp: 61.9F (16.6C)
High temp: 80.1F (26.7C)
Rainfall: none

Today's high temp was the warmest in exactly two weeks -- Friday the 21st of April was the last time I recorded a daily maximum in excess of 80ºF (26.6C).  Although there was a quite a lot of mountain cloud development after about 11:00am, we still ended up with a majority of sunshine to boost those temps significantly above what we experienced on Wednesday and Thursday.

And we now stand on the brink of what looks to be an extended period of real summertime weather, as temperatures continue to rise into about the middle of next week.  But unlike back in April when we had an eight day stretch of very warm temperatures, this time it looks like our atmosphere will not be void of minor disturbances and pockets of moisture.  In fact, models are still showing an annoying slight risk of some shower/thunder development almost every single afternoon/evening, though in our local forecast, I've tried to trim that down only to include the days when the chance of a thundershower might be a bit above 20% or so.  We should have quite a bit of back-and-forth between sunshine and clouds over the course of the coming several days as well.

Looking even further ahead, the overall pattern is trending toward something a bit more tropical than we would normally expect during the month of May -- meaning higher humidity and that daily risk of a thundershower.