Friday, April 1, 2016

hitting new highs... (pm.01.apr.16)>

Friday's stats:

Low temp: 60.3F (15.7C)
High temp: 75.2F (24.0C)
Rainfall: none

A broken layer of thick high clouds is overhead just before sunset this evening.  We were actually able to enjoy a majority of sunshine until nearly 2:00pm, and that allowed the temperature at my location in the upper part of town to warm to yet another new high for the season and the year.  There have been a lot of those lately.  That high of about 75ºF (24ºC) is a few degrees (ºF) above normal for the first day of April.

Here in Himachal Pradesh we are caught between a huge ridge of high pressure aloft which is sprawled across most of the Indian subcontinent to our south -- and an upper-level low pressure trough trying to organize well to our northwest.  That means we will also be caught between a bubble of hot air south of us, and an increasing chance of showers and thunderstorms mainly to our north, as we head into the weekend.  In this 'in between' zone, we're going to be dealing with quite a lot of high cloudiness, though there should be at least a few glimpses of sunshine from time to time.  The risk of some isolated shower and/or thunderstorm activity re-enters the picture tomorrow -- but it's still looking like the best chance of us getting a wave or two of significant rainfall will come sometime between late Sunday and late Monday, as the best upper-level energy sweeps by.

Thereafter, things will remain on the moderately unstable side through most of next week, though any shower/thunder action should be rather isolated and short-lived.  Temperatures will likely be slightly cooler next week, but still close to par for the first week or so of April.

Check tabs above for plenty of other info, including THE 7-DAY OUTLOOK and monthly averages...