Monday, December 3, 2012

mild for december... (pm.03.dec.12)>

Monday's stats:

Early morning low temp: 50.2F (10.1C)
Afternoon high temp: 60.6F (15.9C)
Rainfall: none

Skies are totally clear at sunset, after a day which featured about 99.5% sunshine -- there were just a few wisps of high clouds in the east early this morning, but they quickly disappeared.  Today's temperatures (both high and low) were the warmest since the 22nd of November at my location in the upper part of town.

We have a ridge of high pressure from the surface into the middle and upper levels of the atmosphere to thank for this fantastic early December weather.  High pressure is characterized by sinking air, which means that the air mass is very stable.  At the same time, temperatures have warmed considerably in all but the lowest levels which creates an inversion -- that's why there was some patchy fog down in the valleys early this morning, with pockets of left-over cold air lingering there, as warmer air moves in aloft.  This is the kind of situation where/when overnight low temps can actually be a bit cooler down in the valley than up here on the mountain slopes.

This mild weather will continue for most of the remainder of the week, but there will be a couple of weak upper-level disturbances passing through to keep things from being totally perfect.  The first will arrive by Wednesday afternoon, bringing an increase in clouds.  The next one will move through Friday night and Saturday, and may give us a slightly better chance of a random rain shower.  Otherwise, nothing particularly unpleasant or nasty is in the forecast at the moment...

MONDAY NIGHT:
clear skies.  mild for this time of year!
low: 11C (51F)

TUESDAY:
mostly sunny and unseasonably mild.
high: 16C (61F)

TUESDAY NIGHT:
a few high clouds possible, otherwise fair skies. 
low: 11C (52F)

WEDNESDAY:
sun, but clouds on the increase.  above normal temps.
high: 17C (62F)

THURSDAY:
sunny to partly cloudy.
morning low: 10C (50F)
daytime high: 16C (60F)

FRIDAY:
both sun and occasional clouds.  temps still wamer than normal.
morning low: 11C (51F)
daytime high: 16C (61F)

SATURDAY:
partly cloudy to mostly cloudy at times.  a bit cooler, with a chance of a light rain shower.
morning low: 11C (51F)
daytime high: 15C (59F)