Friday, May 8, 2015

may heat holding... (pm.08.may.15)>

Friday's stats:

Low temp: 68.0F (20.0C)
High temp: 87.2F (30.7C)
Rainfall: none

The sun is setting, and we have partly cloudy skies across the area.  Although there was the expected increase in cloud development along the mountains this afternoon, and even a bit more patchy high cloudiness today, we still managed to achieve yet another high temperature for the season and the year -- for the fifth day in a row.  There was some thunder rumbling up-mountain from us between roughly 2:45 and 4:45pm, but none of that activity ever ventured downhill and into town.

This evening's satellite pics show an impressive string of thundershowers extending all along the front ranges of the Himalayas from western Kashmir into central Nepal.  But -- the flow in the upper atmosphere is coming from the west-southwest, so all of that development has been driven east-northeastward further into the mountains.  Anyway, all of this is a sign of the changes taking shape in our overall atmospheric set-up right now, as the strong high pressure ridge in control during the past week starts to break down.  A combination of upper-level energy rippling in from the southwest, gradually cooler air moving in aloft, and an increase in moisture pushing in from the west-southwest will bring us a better and better chance of some scattered shower/thunder action over the course of the coming several days.

Although there could be a couple of showers or thunderstorms flirting with us here in McLeod Ganj over the weekend, the very best chance of a few periods of rain and thunder will hold off until Monday into Tuesday.  Along with the better rain chances will come a drop in temperatures early next week, that could temporarily erase these very warm (and even above normal) temps we've been experiencing all week long.

Stay tuned for twice-daily updates... and check THE 7-DAY OUTLOOK tab above for forecast details.