Friday, October 10, 2014

weekend looking good... (pm.10.oct.14)>

Friday's stats:

Low temp: 58.8F (14.9C)
High temp: 70.3F (21.3C)
Rainfall: none

Apart from just a few leftover cumulus clouds over the mountains, we have clear skies just after sunset this evening.  It's been another stunner of a day, with lots of autumn sunshine, along with a moderate build-up of mountain clouds this afternoon.  Humidity remains in the pleasant category (mainly 40-55%), with temperatures running close to or slightly above normal for this time of year.

Computer models continue to show further drying of the atmosphere over the weekend, as a general west-northwesterly flow dominates in the mid- and upper-levels.  We nearly always get a turn to south-southeasterly winds during the daytime here along the front slopes of the mountains, and that channels whatever moisture remains in our air mass uphill -- condensing it out in the form of clumps of cumulus clouds.  Apart from that phenomenon, we should continue to see lots of sunshine during the coming two or three days.

It would be nice to say that tropical moisture isn't going to be making a return again this year, but I can't.  This bit of uncertainty is due to a large and powerful tropical cyclone spinning away over the Bay of Bengal.  By Tuesday, what remains of that system will be located squarely over the center of the Indian sub-continent... starting to make a turn to the north.  Right now it appears that the best chance of a return to saturated conditions and even some fairly widespread heavy rains would be further south and east of us, but plenty can change during the next five days.