Monday, June 29, 2015

fog makes its debut... (pm.29.jun.15)>

Monday's stats:

Low temp: 63.6F (17.6C) -- at 12:30pm during rain
High temp: 74.5F (23.6C)
Rainfall: 0.41" (1.0cm)

It's finally looking the way monsoon season is supposed to look -- we have mostly cloudy skies and some patches of thick fog drifting through the area this evening, along with some light sprinkles of rain at the moment.  Today's sunshine was very limited and confined to just a few fleeting glimpses early this morning and again during the mid-afternoon.  Otherwise the clouds were in control, along with these periods of genuine monsoon fog.  Up til now, the main rainfall had occurred right around the noon hour -- it didn't last too long, and amounts weren't all that heavy.

Average relative humidity readings in the moderate range (50-65%) the last several days have jumped upward today, as expected.  Although humidity has averaged just 65-70%, we've had periods when it has surged higher than that -- the presence of fog is an indication that it's been getting into the 90-100% range.  This is what we've been waiting for, as all factors come together to provide us with a glimpse of what we can expect a lot more of during the coming ten to twelve weeks.

As I said this morning, the tropical moisture now surging into Himalayan north India will probably establish itself for the long haul, as a sprawling ridge of high pressure in the upper-levels of the atmosphere provides a lazy and sluggish flow up there.  This kind of pattern will allow the rich moisture to keep sloshing back and forth, up against the mountains, providing us with a prevalence of clouds and occasional fog.  It will also keep us in line for periods of rain and thunder pretty much on a daily basis.  We can hope for some occasional sun here and there, but with the humidity, any sun will contribute to some major mugginess.

THE 7-DAY OUTLOOK is rather repetitious, but can be found on the tab above.