Saturday, October 12, 2013

forward steps... (pm.12.oct.13)>

*Update @ 9:39pm... Very strong and gusty west-northwest winds have developed again late this evening.  Although there have been a few sprinkles of rain, humidity has dropped to 39%, which is the lowest in a few weeks.  AND, strangely, the temperature has been on the rise, and has reached the high for the entire day shortly after 9pm.  This turbulent and rapidly changing atmosphere could swing in all directions overnight into Sunday. ??

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Saturday's stats:

Low temp: 58.6F (14.8C)
High temp: 67.8F (19.9C) -- at 9:00pm
Rainfall: 0.08" (2mm)

We have a mix of sunshine and clouds across the area early this evening, as we near the end of what has turned out to be one of nicest days of the last month.  There have been only a few light showers today, which were confined to the early morning hours -- and the humidity has dropped as low as 41%.  The air has been crisp and clean, with good visibility and not a trace of fog until just after 5pm.

Rapid cooling of the upper-atmosphere during the past couple of days combined with lingering tropical moisture to trigger widespread showers and thunderstorms across northern India yesterday, with some of that activity continuing overnight.  By this morning, there were only a few scattered showers remaining, but drier air was being ushered in from the northwest, doing a very efficient job of chasing much of that stubborn moisture off to our southeast.  There is expected to be even more cooling aloft during the next 24 hours or so, as a brisk west-northwesterly flow develops in the mid- and upper-levels of the atmosphere.  This is the kind of weather pattern we've been waiting a long time for, which failed to take root back in the third week of September when we had our official monsoon withdrawal.

Computer models are still showing the potential for some shower development overnight and again tomorrow, due to a bit of instability generated by the colder air aloft -- so we still can't be absolutely assured that the rain is over for good.  However, some bone dry air will be gradually arriving as the new week progresses, allowing our humidity to fall to 30% (or less?) by the latter half of the week.  That should mean plenty of sunshine for us, with afternoon showers restricted to the higher mountain peaks.  Let's hope there are no surprises...

CURRENT FORECAST details can be found on the tab at the top of the page.