Wednesday, May 9, 2012

sharing the heat... (am.09.may.12)>

Strong sunshine is the main weather feature once again early this morning.  My overnight low temp here on Tushita Road below the mountaineering center has been 68.5F (20.3C) -- a new warmest for the year.  There has been no rainfall since the period of light showers early yesterday afternoon.

Our prevailing air mass continues to be characterized by warm temperatures from the surface all the way into the highest levels of the atmosphere.  This is keeping things fairly stable, apart from the usual isolated thundershower activity developing over the mountains during the PM hours.  We still can't rule out a shower or thundershower during the next couple of days, but hazy sunshine and occasional high clouds should be much more common than showers.  How much higher can our temps go?  We're already above normal for early May, but it looks like we could still warm up a bit further during the remainder of the week.

The next weather event waiting in the wings is a fresh upper-level disturbance which is expected to become the main influence over the weekend.  Much colder air aloft will begin to destabilize the atmosphere, starting on Friday, which will lead to an increasing chance of more widespread, significant thunderstorms.  Eventually, that will translate into cooling temps down here at our elevation as well...

WEDNESDAY:
hazy sunshine, along with a few clouds.  an isolated PM thundershower?  very warm.
high: 29C (85F)

WEDNESDAY NIGHT:
an evening thundershower in the area?  otherwise fair to partly cloudy and unseasonably warm.
low: 21C (69F)

THURSDAY:
a mix of sunshine and occasional clouds.  continued very warm, with an isolated PM thundershower possible.
high: 29C (85F)

FRIDAY:
partly sunny.  a better chance of a few thunderstorms developing.
morning low: 21C (70F)
daytime high: 28C (83F)

SATURDAY:
partly cloudy and not quite as warm.  good chance of some showers and thunderstorms in the area.
morning low: 19C (67F)
daytime high: 27C (80F)

SUNDAY:
partly cloudy with a good chance of a period or two of showers and thunderstorms.
morning low: 18C (64F)
daytime high: 26C (78F)