Friday, December 14, 2012

calming down... (pm.14.dec.12)>

Friday's stats:

Early morning low temp: 37.6F (3.1C)
Afternoon high temp: 45.5F (7.5C)
24 hour Rainfall: 1.75" (4.4cm)
Sleet/Snow: trace

Skies are mostly cloudy this evening, after a few peeks of sunshine during the latter half of the afternoon.  It was quite a wild and raucous ride throughout the morning and into the early afternoon, with numerous periods of rain and sleet showers, occasionally gusty winds, and even another round of thunder and lightning.  The majority of our 24 hour precipitation total occurred after 6:30am, thanks to the back-side of a storm system that, after being a bit slow to arrive, was reluctant to leave.  On top of all that, today was (not surprisingly) the coldest of the season thus far.

Slushy accumulations of sleet and snow have been reported as low as upper Dharamkot, but the major snowfall was confined to areas above roughly 7800ft/2400m.  There was easily 1.5 to 2ft of snow around Triund, and other elevations near and above 10,000ft/3000m -- and across pretty much all the mountainous terrain of Himachal at that level.

Unfortunately, we're not getting a very cheerful clearing trend going.  Weak low pressure lingers just to our west, and is expected to remain there through the weekend.  No major storm systems are in the forecast, but this is one of those ambiguous "instability" situations which will prevent us from totally clearing out, and will keep the mention of a few showers in the forecast.  I'm banking on an improving situation during Monday through Wednesday of next week, but at this point, 100% sunny days don't appear likely.

On a positive note, we should see steadily milder temperatures right through the coming five-day forecast period.  We may even claw our way back to December "normals" in a few days.

FRIDAY NIGHT:
partly to mostly cloudy and cold.  still a risk of a couple of showers passing through.
low: 4C (39F)

SATURDAY:
both clouds and some sun.  chance of a period or two of rain showers.  a bit milder.
high: 9C (49F)

SATURDAY NIGHT:
partly cloudy with a chance of a shower.
low: 5C (41F)

SUNDAY:
a mix of clouds and sun.  chance of a few rain showers.
high: 10C (50F)

MONDAY:
partly cloudy and somewhat milder.
morning low: 6C (42F)
daytime high: 11C (52F)

TUESDAY:
partly cloudy with a chance of a shower.  back to normal for mid-december.
morning low: 7C (44F)
daytime high: 12C (54F)

WEDNESDAY:
sunny to partly cloudy with seasonable temps.
morning low: 7C (44F)
daytime high: 13C (55F)