Tuesday, September 17, 2013

our new reality... (am.17.sep.13)>

The sky is absolutely, totally clear at sunrise this morning.  My temperature here in the upper part of town is hovering around 61F (16C), and humidity is only 47%.  Not a trace of monsoon character to the air mass that has now settled in!  I recorded no rain overnight, and none during the past 24 hours.  This is the first time since the middle of July that I've registered ZERO rainfall for a calendar day.  There have been three days with only trace amounts -- but every single day we've had at least some drizzle or a light shower -- until yesterday.

I'm very happy with the way computer models have been handling this retreat of monsoon moisture, and the much drier central Asian air mass that has taken its place here across Himalayan north India.  For several days, the various sets of data have been hinting at rainfall completely disappearing, and so far those projections are being confirmed.  But we all know that our Dhauladhar thunder machine can be moody and fickle -- and even if there appears to be very little moisture to work with, it can scrounge some together and produce a significant afternoon thundershower after a morning of strong sunshine.  The best we can do is keep an eye on cloud development as the noon hour approaches, and see how strong and decisive this surge of dry air really is.

The moisture content throughout all levels of the atmosphere is forecast to continue decreasing all the way until the end of the week.  With more sunshine and a (hopefully) more stable air mass, we should see our daytime temps climbing -- but it will remain seasonably cool during the nights.  Now we really are on the brink of some of the finest weather of the year...

CURRENT FORECAST details and specific monsoon info can be found on tabs above.