Tuesday, August 27, 2013

rain risk rising... (pm.27.aug.13)>

Tuesday's stats:

Low temp: 65.7F (18.7C)
High temp: 74.7F (23.7C)
Rainfall: 0.52" (1.3cm) -- updated at 8:00pm

A beautiful evening in progress -- we have partly cloudy skies, no fog (at the moment), and a view of the mountains that doesn't happen all that often during the monsoon season.  There was a lot of back-and-forth between clouds and sun again today, with a period of moderate-intensity thundershowers between about 3:20 and 5:00pm which delivered slightly more than a half inch of rain in the upper part of town.  That amount, though not really very much, was more than I had recorded in the three previous days combined.  The humidity dropped as low as 70% at one point during the middle of the day, and the high temp was once again very close to 75F (24C), thanks to the nice sunny breaks.

The healthy dose of rain this afternoon could be a sign of things to come between now and Friday or Saturday, as a fresh surge of tropical moisture begins to arrive here along the front slopes of the Dhauladhars.  I don't see anything that would indicate we're in for an extended period of extremely heavy rainfall, but it does look like our rainfall rates will be creeping upward again after a few days of some very paltry totals for late August.

In my opinion, these next few weeks are among the most difficult of the entire year to get a handle on.  There are times when all signs point to a definite weakening and gradual withdrawal of monsoon conditions -- only to be hit hard with more heavy rain and thick fog which can last for a day or two, or more.  Patience required.

CURRENT FORECAST details are available on the tab above.  Also check out MONSOON'S END? (above) if you want more perspective on what the withdrawal of the monsoon looks like.