Tuesday, April 8, 2014

a turn for the better... (am.08.apr.14)>

It is perfectly clear at sunrise this morning, though cool for this time of year.  My overnight low here on Tushita Road just below the mountaineering center has been 51.6F (10.9C) -- but that's better than the 46F (7.8C) which occurred late yesterday afternoon during a thunderstorm.  There's been no additional precipitation since early last evening, keeping the total rainfall from our recent storm system at 0.69" (1.8cm).  Humidity this morning is 39%.

Other than a streak of high clouds over northern Kashmir, satellite pics are showing clear skies this morning all the way from eastern Iran into central Tibet.  That's certainly nice to see, after many days in a row of very changeable and active weather from central Asia into the western Himalayas.  A general westerly flow in the upper-atmosphere is setting up, and will pivot slightly between westerly and northwesterly for most of this week.  There will be a couple of weak ripples/disturbances floating through, but nothing that looks like it will be able to bother us very much.  The exception to that, of course, is the potential for afternoon instability over the mountains.  There are some pockets of very cold air up above 15,000ft or so, and warmer air rising up-mountain by the mid-day hours could trigger some isolated thundershower activity up there.  I think the upper-level flow will push any development away from us, but we always have to keep a close eye on that scenario, nonetheless.

Right now it looks like the next significant disturbance will start to threaten by late Saturday, with an increasing chance of showers and thunderstorms once again.  Until then, we should be able to enjoy a moderating trend, temperature-wise, along with a fairly respectable amount of sunshine.

The CURRENT FORECAST details are available on the tab above.