our latest deluge... (am.30.jul.12)>

*3:37pm... Rainfall since midnight --  2.03" (5.2cm).  Total during the past 24 hours -- 3.03" (7.7cm).


*12:09pm... 1.77" (4.5cm) of rain since midnight.  Total since last evening now stands at 2.77" (7.0cm).  Rain intensity as been on the lighter side for the past several hours, but we could see some occasional heavier showers this afternoon.  My temp has been steady near 69F (20.6C) all morning.


*9:03am...  Now 1.67" (4.2cm) since midnight.  Rainfall total since this all began last evening is now 2.67" (6.8cm).  Still lots of shower/thundershower action over the western half of Himachal Pradesh, so it looks like amounts will continue to tick upward.


*7:05am... The big rains have returned.  I've measured 2.31" (5.9cm) between 8:20pm last evening and 7:00am this morning.  1.31" (3.3cm) of that has occurred since midnight.  Still raining moderately, with some thunder and lightning in the area.  Our early morning temp is 68.9F (20.5C).

everywhere gray... (pm.29.jul.12)>

Plenty of clouds and fog around the area this evening, along with some patches of drizzle here and there.  I've only recorded a trace of rain since this morning's report, so we remain at 0.40" (1.0cm) since midnight, and just over one inch (2.6cm) in the past 24 hours or so.  There were some brief glimpses of sun again today, but clouds and fog definitely dominated -- my high temp in the upper part of town was able to struggle to just 73.0F (22.8C).

*Update @ 1015pm... Heavier rain again at the moment.  Rain gauge shows 0.60" (1.5cm) in the past two hours... but it looks like there is plenty more to come...

*Update @ 940pm...  Steady light to moderate rain, along with some thunder/lightning.  Now 0.49" (1.2cm) of rain since about 825pm at my location in upper McLeod Ganj.  No power.

*Update @ 904pm...  Thick fog, dead-calm wind, and rainfall intensity on the increase.  I have 0.17" (4mm) in the past 40 minutes.  Also a bit of thunder/lightning.

*Update @ 826pm... Brand new showers developing overhead and points south at the moment.  A few flashes of lightning as well.  Will update if development continues...

I was expecting more rain development today than we've seen so far.  This air mass is fully saturated, so all we're waiting for is some kind of a dynamic trigger to set things off.  Several times recently, that trigger has come in the form of cooling aloft after the sun sets, which creates just enough instability to allow all of this moisture-laden air near the surface to rapidly rise and condense into showers and thundershowers.  Whatever the case, it's very likely that we're not far away from our next round of moderate to heavy rainfall. I still think we could get slammed with a period of 2-3" (5-8cm)+ rains before the next 24-36 hours are up.

There are no major changes in the general weather pattern expected during the coming week.  If we're lucky, we'll get a period or two of sunshine here and there, along with humidity perhaps briefly dipping below 90% -- otherwise we'll remain very close to the saturation point most of the time, with occasional moderate to heavy downpours likely.  In other words, August should begin in roughly the same fashion that July ends...

SUNDAY NIGHT:

mostly cloudy and foggy at times.  a period or two of rain and thunder likely.

low: 19C (67F)

MONDAY:

mostly cloudy.  occasional fog, rain and thunder likely.

high: 22C (72F)

MONDAY NIGHT:

mostly cloudy and foggy.  a couple of periods of rain and thunder likely.

low: 19C (67F)

TUESDAY:

mostly cloudy skies.  periods of fog, rain and some thunder.

high: 22C (72F)

WEDNESDAY:

a couple of sunshine breaks?  otherwise clouds, fog, and a couple of showers/thundershowers.

morning low: 20C (68F)

daytime high: 23C (74F)

THURSDAY:

mostly cloudy and foggy.  occasional rain and some thunder.

morning low: 20C (68F)

daytime high: 22C (72F)

FRIDAY:

clouds, fog and some rain/thunder likely.  also good chance of some sun appearing.

morning low: 19C (66F)

daytime high: 23C (73F)

thick-rich-juicy... (am.29.jul.12)>

Clouds and fog are the dominant features across our area early this Sunday morning.  There have been off-and-on showers, along with some rumbles of thunder overnight, and I have a fresh 0.40" (1.0cm) in my rain gauge since midnight.  The running total/averages can be found on the JULY RAINFALL tab (above).  Temperatures have moved very little in the past 24 hours... my low temp here in the upper part of town has been 68.2F (20.1C).

Very thick, rich and juicy tropical moisture is now firmly in control once again across Himachal Pradesh and most of the rest of northern India.  A southerly flow is pumping more and more moisture into the area, which has been squeezed out in the form of occasional rain showers.  I'm waiting for the next period of truly heavy rainfall to manifest... with this air mass in place, it won't take too much instability to generate some downpours worthy of dumping more than an inch of rain in a short period of time.  The risk of that happening will be increasing today through Tuesday.  In fact, we could be candidates for picking up 2-3" (5-8cm), or more, in a 24 hour period.  Be prepared.

Computer model data indicates that these healthy monsoon conditions should remain with us all the way through this new week.  There will likely be some brief periods of sunshine and humidity backing down from the 95-100% range from time to time, but those little respites should be relatively short-lived.

SUNDAY:

clouds, fog, and perhaps a glimpse or two of sun.  occasional rain and some thunder likely.

high: 22C (72F)

SUNDAY NIGHT:

clouds and fog, with periods of rain and thunder likely.

low: 19C (67F)

MONDAY:

mostly cloudy and foggy.  periods of rain and some thunder.

high: 22C (72F)

TUESDAY:

mostly cloudy skies... periods of fog, rain and some thunder.

morning low: 19C (66F)

daytime high: 22C (72F)

WEDNESDAY:

perhaps some sun at times... otherwise mostly cloudy and foggy.  a few showers and thundershowers in the area.

morning low: 19C (66F)

daytime high: 23C (74F)

THURSDAY:

clouds, fog, and a peek or two of sun.  more rain and thunder likely.

morning low: 19C (67F)

daytime high: 22C (72F)

accumulating... (pm.28.jul.12)>

As I write, we have some moderate to heavy showers in progress in the middle of the main market, along with thick clouds and fog.  Rainfall as of about 5:00pm had only been 0.11" (3mm), but that has obviously changed in the past hour or so -- updated rainfall amounts will be added here later this evening.  There were some fleeting glimpses of sun this morning and very early this afternoon, otherwise clouds and fog have been in control.  I recorded a high temp of 73.2F (22.9C).

*Update @ 955pm... Some thunder and lightning and drizzle/light showers during the past couple of hours.  Total rainfall today now stands at 0.65" (1.7cm).

*Update @ 732pm... Our moderate-heavy showers between 530-700pm have yielded 0.51" (1.3cm) of rain, which brings our total since midnight up to 0.62" (1.6cm).  More development likely tonight...

Up until these heavier showers that have developed this evening, rainfall has been quite light since Thursday morning.  We've definitely had a bit of a lull in the action, but it looks like the potential for more long-lasting, heavy rainfall will be on the rise as the new week arrives.  There is plenty of low-level moisture around -- what has been lacking the last 48 hours or so is saturated conditions in the higher levels of the atmosphere, along with a lack of the instability necessary to generate widespread shower/thundershower action.  Already this evening we're seeing deeper moisture push into the area from the south and southeast... so the next phase is already getting underway.

As I've mentioned several times... the normal rainfall for the month of July is very close to 40" (101.6cm).  That is an immense amount of rainfall for one month in virtually any part of the world!  It looks like we'll exceed 30" (76.2cm) by Tuesday night, the 31st, but it's going to take quite a few epic downpours for us to catch up to normal.  Still, we'll have a respectable total, considering the late start to the monsoon season this year, and the lag we experienced during the middle of the month.

SATURDAY NIGHT:

partly to mostly cloudy.  occasional fog, with some periods of rain and thunder.

low: 19C (67F)

SUNDAY:

clouds, fog, and a peek or two of sunshine.  a couple of rounds of rain and thunder likely.

high: 23C (73F)

SUNDAY NIGHT:

mostly cloudy and foggy at times.  occasional rain and thunder likely.

low: 19C (67F)

MONDAY:

mostly cloudy... periods of fog, rain and thunder.

high: 22C (72F)

TUESDAY:

clouds, fog and occasional rain.  thunder possible as well.

morning low: 19C (66F)

daytime high: 22C (72F)

WEDNESDAY:

clouds, fog, and a couple of periods of sun.  a couple of rounds of showers/thundershowers.

morning low: 18C (65F)

daytime high: 23C (74F)

THURSDAY:

mostly cloudy with periods of fog, rain and some thunder likely.

morning low: 19C (66F)

daytime high: 22C (72F)