Wednesday, March 9, 2011

a temporary setback... (pm.09.mar.11)>

today was one of those days when we had all kinds of variety... sunshine in the early morning, thick, heavy clouds from the mid-morning into the early afternoon, thunder and a brief heavy shower (with hail in a few spots) around 2pm, then a mix of clouds and sun during the mid- to late afternoon hours.  our warming trend was stifled today... as we only reached a high temp of 56.3F (13.5C).  i recorded 0.06" (1.5mm) of rain this afternoon.

the pocket of cold air in the upper atmosphere that we've been discussing the last few days has been directly overhead during the past 18-24 hours.  the relationship between warmer temperatures at the surface to much colder temps aloft is what creates instability in the atmosphere... and that's why we've seen the brief shower/thundershower action since the pre-dawn hours today.  the good news is that this instability is going to be weakening, then disappearing altogether during the coming 12-24 hours... and will be replaced by rapidly warming temperatures in all levels of the atmosphere.  the potential for a couple of showers or thundershowers will continue overnight... with an even smaller chance tomorrow.

then, get ready for a major warm-up as we head into the weekend, and especially into early next week, along with a good dose of springtime himalayan sunshine...

WEDNESDAY NIGHT: partly cloudy with a couple of showers or thundershowers in the area.
low: 9C (48F)

THURSDAY: partly sunny skies... only a slight chance of a brief, isolated shower.
high: 16C (60F)

FRIDAY: sunny to partly cloudy and warming up again...
high: 18C (64F)

SATURDAY: mostly sunny skies.  super nice!
high: 19C (66F)

SUNDAY: plenty of sun... warming trend continues...
high: 20C (68F)

MONDAY: mostly sunny and pleasant.
high: 20C (68F)