Wednesday, June 1, 2016

the june package... (pm.01.jun.16)>

Wednesday's stats:

Low temp: 64.8F (18.2C)
High temp: 83.6F (28.7C)
Rainfall: none

For the first day of June, this one is pretty much par for the course.  Although there was quite a lot of cloud development here along the foothills of the Dhauladhars starting late this morning and continuing throughout the afternoon, we also were able to get a good amount of sunshine this morning, and between the patches of clouds this afternoon and evening.  Temperatures were only slightly warmer than they were yesterday, but that's something to say, considering the challenge posed by the cloudiness.  Humidity ranged from about 35 to 50%.  And now, during this hour before sunset, we have partly cloudy skies and comfortably warm temps.

Even after many years monitoring, following and obsessing on the weather here, I still get very anxious about cloud development from the late morning onwards.  No matter what the pattern and no matter what the season, there are so many mysteries revolving around what makes for a sunny, or not-so-sunny day, along the front slopes of the mighty Dhauladhars.  If you've been following lately, you know we're watching a massive high pressure ridge build and spread into west-northwest India from the west and southwest.  A high pressure ridge consists of relatively warmer air flowing into the mid- and upper-levels of the atmosphere, which tends to induce stability.  However, any flow of air and/or new air mass bumping up against the outer ranges of the Himalayas can create a unique micro-climate effect -- giving us clouds and even showers/thunder up here, while it's sunny and warm down below Dharamsala, to Gaggal and Kangra.

So far, this influx of warmer air has had only minor adverse effects on us... and it still looks like we'll be the recipients of a continuing warming trend over the course of the coming several days.  But I've seen this kind of pattern go belly-up many times before, so we need to be aware of the wild card cloudiness factors, along with at least a small chance of some random thundershower development one of these afternoons/evenings.  Be watchful and aware, which is always the rule around here, to be frank.

Forecast details and the finalized MAY STATS, along with other info can be found on tabs above.