Thursday, April 24, 2014

another new high... (pm.24.apr.14)>

Thursday's stats:

Low temp: 58.6F (14.8C)
High temp: 73.1 (22.8C)
Rainfall: 0.06" (1mm)

We have scattered high clouds across the area as sunset approaches this evening, at the end of the new warmest day of the season and of 2014.  Strong sunshine and rapid warming this morning led to much more instability over the mountains than expected -- and by 1:00pm we had a batch of thick clouds and showers hovering just to our northwest, which drifted southeastward into our neighborhood.  There were a couple of periods of light showers and even some random tiny hail before things stabilized again by mid-afternoon.  A reminder that our mountain micro-climate instability factors can kick in anytime -- even when we least expect it.!

That brief brush with rain showers spoiled what should have been our fifth dry day in a row, and now we're heading into a 48 hour period during which we could see a few more random light showers and possibly some thunder.  An upper-level disturbance is going to pass well to the north of us during the first part of the weekend, but it's likely that we'll see an increase in clouds, along with some scattered shower activity around the area between Friday afternoon and Saturday evening.  Any rain amounts are expected to be light, but we'll have to keep a careful eye on it.  In the meantime, temperatures should continue their gradual moderation, despite the period of disturbed weather.

The most dramatic warming of the season will accompany a building ridge of high pressure across north India on Sunday into the middle of next week.  Right now it's looking dry and generally sunny during that time frame, with temps still anticipated to push toward 80F (26.7C) or even higher.  That will actually be a bit ABOVE normal for the April/May transition.

CURRENT FORECAST specifics can be found on the tab above.