Saturday, April 19, 2014

a brighter future... (pm.19.apr.14)>

Saturday's stats:

Low temp: 44.8F (7.1C)
High temp: 60.8F (16.0C)
Rainfall since 7am: 0.10" (3mm)
24 hour rainfall: 2.60" (6.6cm)

The view is very interesting just before sunset this evening, with totally clear skies from the south through the west, but towering cumulonimbus (thunderheads) visible from the northwest through north, east and southeasterly directions.  We managed to come up with a fairly decent day, as early morning clouds and scattered showers gradually gave way to increasing amounts of sunshine by the mid-day into the afternoon hours.  There has been some major redevelopment of thundershowers this afternoon -- but so far it has remained in the mountains mainly north and east of us.  Temperatures even recovered boldly from the extremely cool conditions accompanying the heavy rainfall overnight and just before dawn.

Our upper-level low pressure circulation is now sitting over Ladakh, and after we get rid of some lingering instability during the next few hours, should be out of the picture for us.  The risk of a shower or thundershower remains until midnight at the latest, then that should be the end of it.  Dramatic warming throughout all layers of the atmosphere, combined with a rather weak and quiet westerly flow aloft will set in by tomorrow, providing us with a calm, peaceful, and considerably warmer Easter Sunday.  It's looking like this new pattern will prevail through the coming week, for the most part, though we'll have to watch day-by-day for the potential for occasional waves of high cloudiness, along with some afternoon instability over the mountains.  At least from the current vantage point, significant rainfall appears unlikely here in McLeod.

If the delicate sun/cloud balance along the Dhauladhars tips in our favor, we should easily come up with the warmest temperatures of the season and the year this week -- with hints of an even more dramatic upward surge during the final several days of the month.

Keep up with CURRENT FORECAST details on the tab at the top of the page.