Monday, August 26, 2013

recent dry spell... (pm.26.aug.13)>

*Update@ 9:01pm... That shower was a quickie.  Just 0.05" (1mm) in my rain gauge, but enough to keep us from having a day with absolutely ZERO rainfall.  Maybe more development overnight...?

*Update @ 7:51pm... It looks like we're not going to get away with a dry day after all.  Some moderate rain showers are moving in right now.  From satellite pics there is no indication yet about whether they will be short lived, or indicative of more widespread development.  Will update rainfall total later this evening as necessary.  Fog has really thickened up since around 630pm as well.

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Monday's stats:

Low temp: 65.1F (18.4C)
High temp: 75.4F (24.1C)
Rainfall: 0.05" (1mm) -- updated at 9pm

Skies are partly to mostly cloudy this evening, with some mainly light fog in the area.  Today was one of only three days in the last six weeks that I have recorded no measurable rainfall.  Although there was some thunder rumbling this afternoon, especially around 2:30pm, I never had so much as a drop of rain at my location on Tushita Road below the Mountaineering Center.  That may not have been the case further downhill.  There were several nice (but relatively short) periods of sunshine today, and that allowed my high temp to go above 75F (24C) for only the second time since the middle of July.  Humidity dropped into the 75-80% range between mid-morning and late afternoon.

There have been some heavier rainfall amounts down in the Dharamsala area during the past few days, but up here in McLeod, our rainfall rate has slowed way down since Saturday.  It looks like that trend may begin to reverse itself in the next 24-36 hours or so, however, as a fresh surge of tropical moisture creeps up from the southeast.  We usually don't get more than three or four days in a row with such light amounts of rain, so the odds are in our favor to be picking up some heavier totals as we move into the middle of the week.  Whether it comes in the form of quick downpours, or lighter rain that lasts for several hours, I think it will be happening before Friday rolls around.

September is just around the corner, but I see nothing in the extended range upper-air charts that would indicate a weather feature strong enough to push monsoon conditions out of our area.  In fact, it's likely that we'll get another 20" (51cm) of rain before Monsoon 2013 comes to an end.

The CURRENT FORECAST, as always, is available on the tab above.