Friday, March 18, 2011

weekend storms?... (am.18.mar.11)>

we have much thicker cloud cover across the area before sunrise this morning... and i have a temp of 61.7F (16.5C) to start the day.

the forecast is much more difficult now than it has been for most of the past week.  the flow in the upper atmosphere has strengthened, and is running pretty much from west to east from the persian gulf and iran, across afghanistan, pakistan and into the northern half of india.  a rather vigorous disturbance embedded in that flow will be moving through the western himalayas over the weekend, stirring up quite a bit of cloudiness and some scattered shower and thunderstorm action.  although our temperatures remain relatively warm at the surface, much colder air is moving in aloft, and that is what will create the instability and thus, storm potential.

we may see some periods of sunshine between clouds, and if we do, it will warm up considerably both today and saturday... but without sun, temperatures will remain a few degrees below where they've been for the last several days.  if you plan to be out and about this weekend, especially venturing into the mountains, be prepared for sudden changes!

FRIDAY: partly cloudy skies.  a few showers or a thunderstorm possible by late afternoon.
high: 23C (74F)

FRIDAY NIGHT: mostly cloudy with a chance of a shower or thunderstorm.
low: 16C (60F)

SATURDAY: clouds, perhaps a few peeks of sun.  good chance of scattered showers and/or thunderstorms.
high: 20C (68F)

SUNDAY: still a chance of a few showers and thundershowers around the area... otherwise partly to mostly cloudy.
high: 19C (67F)

MONDAY: partly cloudy skies.
high: 20C (68F)

TUESDAY: partly to mostly sunny and pleasant.
high: 21C (69F)