Sunday, March 18, 2012

genuine warmth... (am.18.mar.12)>

We have hazy sunshine on this Sunday morning... with an extremely mild overnight low temperature of 61.2F (16.2C).  That's much more like the middle of April than the middle of March.  Humidity is very low... at 29%.

Believe it or not, our air mass is STILL warming up, with temperatures expected to peak today and Monday, before they start to cool off again during the coming week.  An unusually strong ridge of high pressure is providing warm air from the surface, all the way into the mid- and upper-levels of the atmosphere... and allowing the heat on the plains to our south to nudge in our direction.  As always, we'll have to keep one eye on the potential for some instability over the mountains which could generate some clouds and possibly a stray shower, but the sunshine should maintain a majority vote today.  If you're planning to head down the hill to Kangra or beyond, be prepared for almost summer-like heat!

An upper-level storm system is on the way for Monday night into Tuesday, which will give us an increasing chance of some scattered shower and thunderstorm action.  It will also usher in some cooler air, but at this point, it looks like temps behind this system will just bring us back to average (or slightly below) for the latter half of March...

SUNDAY:
hazy sunshine, with a few clouds.  warmest day of the year!
high: 23C (73F)

SUNDAY NIGHT:
clear to partly cloudy and unseasonably mild.
low: 17C (63F)

MONDAY:
both sunshine and some clouds.  even warmer... with a slight chance of a thundershower by evening.
high: 24C (75F)

TUESDAY:
a mix of clouds and sun, with a good chance of a period or two of showers and thunderstorms.  not quite as warm.
morning low: 16C (60F)
daytime high: 22C (71F)

WEDNESDAY:
partly cloudy.  a bit cooler.
morning low: 11C (52F)
daytime high: 19C (67F)

THURSDAY:
sunshine and a few clouds.
morning low: 11C (51F)
daytime high: 19C (66F)