Friday, June 29, 2012

monsoon: absent... (pm.29.jun.12)>

Our air mass is full of haze and dust this evening... otherwise skies are partly cloudy.  Humidity has been right around 55% today, which is high compared to what it was a couple of weeks ago, but not that impressive in relation to what it will be a week or so from now.  There was a little thunder during the mid-afternoon, but I'm not aware of any rainfall in the immediate McLeod Ganj area.  The high temp at my location on Tushita Road in the upper part of town reached 84.9F (29.4C).

It is hard to believe we've normally experienced a few days of genuine monsoon conditions by this date, considering the generally quiet and warm weather we've been dealing with for the past 48 hours or so.  During the monsoon season, it's not that unusual to get a stretch of a few days without much rainfall, but humidity rarely dips below 75-80% even if it isn't raining... and the fog is never too far away.  That's why it's a bit surreal to be in this phase that is at least 10 days behind schedule.  Yet another bubble of high pressure in the mid- and upper-levels of the atmosphere will shield us from any appreciable advance of deep, rich tropical moisture into the first part of next week.  Keep in mind the potential for a random period of thundershowers at some point -- mainly during the PM hours -- otherwise our weather will feature a majority of hazy sunshine along with temps running way above normal.

Successive new runs of the computer model data continue to point to the latter half of next week for a very aggressive forward advance of monsoon conditions into parts of central and northern India.  Although we may not get an "official" monsoon onset declaration, I think we'll see some radical changes by Wednesday into Thursday.

FRIDAY NIGHT:
slight chance of a thundershower... otherwise partly cloudy and quite warm.
low: 23C (73F)

SATURDAY:
hazy sun and some clouds and unseasonably warm.  an isolated PM thundershower?
high: 30C (86F)

SATURDAY NIGHT:
rather warm, with clear to partly cloudy skies.
low: 23C (74F)

SUNDAY:
hazy sun and a few clouds with a risk of some afternoon thunder. way above normal temps for JULY.
high: 31C (88F)

MONDAY:
unseasonably warm with hazy sun and just a few clouds.
morning low: 24C (75F)
daytime high: 32C (89F)

TUESDAY:
a mix of sun, haze and some clouds.  humidity on the rise...
morning low: 24C (75F)
daytime high: 31C (87F)

WEDNESDAY:
both clouds and some sun.  more humid, with a good chance of a period of showers and thundershowers.
morning low: 23C (74F)
daytime high: 29C (84F)