Tuesday, October 15, 2013

still struggling... (pm.15.oct.13)>

Tuesday's stats:

Low temp: 58.6F (14.8C)
High temp: 67.6F (19.8C)
Rainfall: 0.10" (3mm)

There are a few clouds lingering to the east, otherwise it's mostly clear just after sunset this evening.  This morning's sun held on a little longer than yesterday -- but clouds began developing again by the late morning, leading to a sudden period of mainly light showers and thunder which occurred between about 2:15 and 4:00pm.  I had one-tenth of an inch of rain at my location in the upper part of town, but it seems that the rain was barely measurable further downhill, even in lower parts of McLeod proper.  Clearing was quite rapid by about 5:00pm, allowing us to salvage a beautiful evening.

Although our overall conditions are much improved compared to what we were experiencing this time last week, I am less than impressed with the realities of this clearing and drying trend.  There is still more cloud development than suggested by computer model moisture profiles, and this afternoon's showers were completely overlooked by the computer model data.  Of course all of this can be attributed to our mountain micro-climate factors which keep us on edge and second-guessing ourselves for much of the year... not only in the months before, during and after monsoon season.  It only takes a thin layer of lingering moisture in the low- to mid-levels of the atmosphere, some strong morning sunshine, and the smallest of disturbances aloft to trigger a bit of action here along the Dhauladhar slopes.

The humidity today averaged close to 70%, which is still quite a bit higher than model projections would indicate.  So -- despite the continuing consistent indicators of a drier and drier situation manifesting and taking hold around here, we're still having to scratch and claw our way to a stable and calm autumn scenario this year.

CURRENT FORECAST details can be found on the tab above.