Sunday, April 1, 2012

here to stay... (pm.01.apr.12)>

We have a mix of sun, clouds and haze just before sunset this evening.  At my place, today turned out to be the second warmest day of 2012 (behind Friday, 30th March) with a high temperature of 75.9F (24.4C).  This is about 2C/4F above normal for the first day of April.  There were a few raindrops in the upper part of town between 4:30 and 5:00pm, thanks to some ripe towering cumulus clouds over the mountains.  Humidity has crept up a bit... up to 44% during the late afternoon.

Today was the fourth day in a row with a high temp in excess of 21C/70F, and there are no signs of that streak coming to an end during the next several days.  Although our ridge of high pressure aloft is already collapsing, unseasonably warm air will remain encamped from the surface into the mid-levels of the atmosphere.  Add to that an intrusion of slightly cooler air in the upper-atmosphere and a few weak disturbances moving through... and we get a recipe for an increasing chance of some scattered showers and maybe a thunderstorm or two.

We're not talking about an organized storm system, just the kind of prolonged moderate instability that will keep sunshine battling with occasional clouds, while thundershowers try to develop over the mountains.  I'm still not impressed with our chances of significant rainfall during the next several days... but considering the dry weather of the past three weeks or so, we'll take what we can get!

SUNDAY NIGHT:
an isolated shower/thundershower... otherwise partly cloudy and unseasonably mild.
low: 18C (64F)

MONDAY:
both clouds and hazy sunshine.  risk of a shower or thundershower.
high: 24C (76F)

MONDAY NIGHT:
chance of a thundershower passing through.  partly cloudy.
low: 17C (63F)

TUESDAY:
a shower or thunderstorm possible.  partly cloudy and warm.
high: 24C (75F)

WEDNESDAY:
a mix of sun and clouds.  remaining warm.
morning low: 17C (62F)
daytime high: 24C (75F)

THURSDAY:
more hazy sunshine and occasional clouds.
morning low: 18C (64F)
daytime high: 24C (76F)

FRIDAY:
clouds and sun... chance of a PM thundershower.
morning low: 18C (64F)
daytime high: 24C (76F)