Thursday, May 24, 2012

zero clouds... (pm.24.may.12)>

What an idyllic summer evening... we have 100% sunny skies in this hour before sunset, with toasty temperatures and very low humidity.  My high temp in the upper part of town reached 87.6F (30.9C) around 4:00pm, which is the third-warmest of the month/season/year at my location, but within one degree Fahrenheit of the new high.  And for the first time since the 22nd of March, we've had a day with absolutely ZERO clouds -- a rare event for us.

No afternoon cloud development today tells us one thing... the temperatures in the upper-levels of the atmosphere are very warm, which effectively kills any trace of instability.  A ridge of high pressure aloft is responsible for this, and should keep us quite stable for another 24 hours or so.  By Friday night, the next upper-level disturbance will begin to swing through northern India.  Although we're dealing with a seriously deficient moisture situation, pockets of colder air aloft riding up and over the very warm temps at the surface are likely to ignite at least some isolated thunderstorms over the weekend.  There will still be a good amount of sun on both Saturday and Sunday, but be aware of the potential for sudden storm development.  By Sunday evening, the next surge of stable air will begin to move in, ushering in quiet weather for much of next week.

As far as temperatures are concerned, we are right around our historical and climatological peak for the entire year, and should stay there, more or less, for the next several days.  I never had to plug in my fan last year... but wondering if I might start thinking about that soon...

THURSDAY NIGHT:
clear and warm.
low: 22C (72F)

FRIDAY:
sunny to partly cloudy... warmest of the year!
high: 32C (90F)

FRIDAY NIGHT:
partly cloudy with a chance of thunderstorms developing overnight.
low: 21C (70F)

SATURDAY:
a mix of sunshine and clouds with a thunderstorm or two in the area.
high: 31C (88F)

SUNDAY:
both sun and some clouds.  risk of a passing thundershower.
morning low: 20C (68F)
daytime high: 30C (86F)

MONDAY:
sunny to partly cloudy and very warm.
morning low: 21C (71F)
daytime high: 31C (88F)

TUESDAY:
sunshine and a few clouds.  remaining very warm.
morning low: 22C (72F)
daytime high: 32C (89F)