Monday, July 23, 2012

the return of reality... (pm.23.jul.12)>

It's 100% cloudy and foggy at the time of this posting, after a day of very limited sunshine, but also limited rainfall thus far.  There was a little thunder around 9:00am, and then we've had some occasional drizzle and light showers since around 3:00pm -- but there was nothing measurable in my rain gauge at last check.  That leaves us with 0.30" (8mm) since midnight, thanks to a thunderstorm during the pre-dawn hours.  I recorded a high temperature today of 74.7F (23.7C) in the upper part of town.

*Update @ 10:06pm... Now 0.47" (1.2cm) -- just since about 8:50pm.  Thick fog and raining rather heavily.  I'm going to bed!

*Update @ 9:36pm... I have 0.26" (7mm) in my rain gauge from showers during the past 40 minutes or so.  It is raining lightly at the moment, and fog is reducing visibility to about 30 meters.

*Update @ 8:58pm... After an evening of fog and drizzle, some heavier showers are occurring in upper parts of McLeod Ganj now.  Humidity has been near 100% since late this afternoon... thus the persistence of thick fog.

The upper-atmospheric flow has turned more to the south during the past 24-36 hours, and that is what has allowed deeper tropical moisture to move back into our area, after being mostly absent for more than a week.  Humidity has been steadily in the 95 to 100% range, which is where it should be during the middle of the monsoon season.  We've been really spoiled with the long stretches of sunshine and humidity dropping to 75-80% so often this season, but it looks like our luck may have run out, at least for the next several days.  With the nature of this current air mass, it is going to be hard for our skies to clear out for any decent length of time, or for humidity to drop much below about 85-90%.

Showers have been pretty sparse over the western Himalayan region today, but with this amount of moisture in place, rain and thundershower development could occur at any time of the day or night.  Be prepared for some moderate to heavy downpours this week which could easily produce an inch of two of rain in just a couple of hours.  I am fairly certain our daily rainfall average (currently only 0.80"/2cm) will be on the rise during the next few days...

MONDAY NIGHT:
 mostly cloudy with periods of fog.  more rain and thunder development likely.
low: 20C (68F)

TUESDAY:
clouds, fog, and a peek or two of sun.  a couple of periods of rain/thunder likely.
high: 23C (73F)

TUESDAY NIGHT:
mostly cloudy and foggy at times.  more rain and thunder likely.
low: 19C (67F)

WEDNESDAY:
mostly cloudy and foggy.  a period or two of rain and thunder likely.
high: 22C (72F)

THURSDAY:
clouds, fog, and a sunny break or two.  some rain and thunder still likely.
morning low: 19C (66F)
daytime high: 23C (74F)

FRIDAY:
clouds, fog, and a bit of sun.  more rain and thunder likely.
morning low: 19C (67F)
daytime high: 23C (74F)

SATURDAY:
mostly cloudy.  occasional fog, rain and some thunder.
morning low: 19C (67F)
daytime high: 23C (73F)