Saturday, December 10, 2016

downward trend in temps... (pm.10.dec.16)>

Saturday's stats:

Low temp: 52.7F (11.5C)
High temp: 60.7F (15.9C)
Rainfall: trace

If you were watching the west-southwestern sky late this afternoon and evening, you saw the rapid increase in mid- and high level cloudiness coming our way -- and now it is mostly cloudy with just a few small breaks in the overcast, about an hour after sunset.  It was mostly sunny during the daylight hours, however, with some patchy clouds this morning and haze which lasted until the early afternoon.  Temperatures were slightly cooler than we've seen the last few days, with humidity very low -- in the range of 16 to 28%.

In the upper-levels of the atmosphere, temperatures are plunging, and that has radically reversed the temperature inversion that has trapped smog and haze and dust and other unsavory pollutants in the lower levels of the atmosphere for the past several days.  Visibility by mid-afternoon markedly increased here at our elevation, and down into the valley as well.  With a good batch of dynamic energy passing overhead tonight into early Sunday, combined with that colder air aloft, we could be getting some significant shower and even thunderstorm action -- except for the fact that our atmosphere is extremely dry.  There is a little bit of mid-level moisture which has been tapped from the Arabian Sea, but it's probably not enough to fuel anything more than the most isolated/random light rain showers across our area during the next 12-15 hours or so.  It would be nice to wake up Sunday morning to a coating of snow along the Dhauladhars, but that may be a tall order.

Cooler air is already starting to flow in from the northwest, and it's still looking like we'll see the lowest temps of this very mild autumn/early winter season between Sunday night and Wednesday or Thursday.  But then another rebound back into a milder zone will occur late in the week.

Follow THE 7-DAY OUTLOOK if you're interested in daily forecast details... located on a tab above.