Friday, October 30, 2015

stable/stagnant... (pm.30.oct.15)>

Friday's stats:

Low temp: 50.5F (10.3C)
High temp: 62.9F (17.2C)
Rainfall: none

Our sky is 100% clear this evening as the sunset's glow fades in the west.  The air quality and visibility was horrendous for much of the day, thanks (or no thanks) to an inversion which trapped haze, smoke, dust, pollution, etc., in the lower layers of the atmosphere.  That was evident since early this morning -- though there has been some improvement since the mid-afternoon.  Still, the sun itself was visible most of the day through the murky air.

Incredibly dramatic warming in the upper-layers of the atmosphere combined with lingering cooler air at the surface was the recipe for our inversion today.  When it's warmer at the surface and cooler aloft, there's a natural upward vertical lift during the daytime hours which disperses any particulates in the atmosphere.  With the much warmer air aloft, whatever dirt and dust in the lower levels wasn't able to go anywhere... making for a hazy day.  Yes, it was very stable today, but we experienced the downside of too much stability.

The upper-levels will remain quite warm for this time of year through the weekend, so unless we can warm up a few degrees here at ground level, we may have to deal with more of this stagnancy during the next couple of days.  Otherwise, there's virtually no chance of rainfall, with temperatures running a little bit above normal for the October/November transition period.

The pattern is looking potentially active by the middle of next week, as the main branch of the jet stream sags southward and allows a series of disturbances to set sights on northern India.

Forecast details for the next week can be found on THE 7-DAY OUTLOOK tab above.