Saturday, July 14, 2012

magic eleven... (pm.14.jul.12)>

It is ridiculously sunny for an evening in the middle of July... clouds are trying to develop again, but right now there is zero fog, and humidity is hovering around 75-80%.  Although it was mostly cloudy with some patchy light fog during  most of the morning into the early afternoon, there has been no rainfall since our brief heavy thundershower around 3:00am this morning -- that leaves our total for the day at 0.40" (1.0cm).  My high temp in the upper part of town was 72.5F (22.5C)... very pleasant indeed.

*Update @ 8:40pm... Rain has stopped, and now the stars are out.  0.43" (1.1cm) of rain in less than one hour.

*Update @ 8:08pm... 0.41" (1.0cm) in the past half hour, and still raining lightly.  Total rainfall in the past 24 hours is now 0.81" (2.0cm).

*Update @ 7:40pm... Thundershowers have rapidly developed overhead during the past half hour or so.  Some rain starting to fall at my location at this moment.

We've had at least a quarter-inch of rain on 11 of the past 11 days, and coincidentally, our total rainfall during those 11 days has been almost exactly 11" (27.9cm).  That's a fairly respectable total for the start of monsoon season, but what has been highly abnormal has been the very limited amount of fog we've experienced, along with the frequent sunny periods.  A general westerly flow in the upper parts of the atmosphere is responsible for keeping us from achieving full saturation for more than several hours at a time thus far -- and until the flow aloft turns more to the south, southeast, or east, it's going to be hard for us to say goodbye to the stretches of drier, sunnier weather.

Despite all that, occasional bursts of moderate to heavy rainfall will remain likely, and humidity won't be dropping enough for rapid laundry-drying to occur.  In fact, I'm noticing some big mossy patches already growing on the concrete rooftop and terraces of my house, which indicates that despite the sun, and the rarity of thick fog, there really is a lot of moisture in the air.

SATURDAY NIGHT:
partly cloudy, to mostly cloudy at times.  good chance of a round of showers and thundershowers.
low: 18C (64F)

SUNDAY:
a mix of clouds and some sun.  one or two showers or thundershowers likely.
high: 22C (72F)

SUNDAY NIGHT:
partly cloudy.  good chance of a shower or thundershower.
low: 18C (65F)

MONDAY:
both clouds and some sun at times.  good chance of a thundershower or two, mainly in the PM.
high: 23C (74F)

TUESDAY:
a mix of clouds and some sun.  good chance of a period or two of thundershowers.
morning low: 19C (66F)
daytime high: 24C (75F)

WEDNESDAY:
clouds, sun and a period or two of fog.  some showers/thundershowers in the area.
morning low: 19C (67F)
daytime high: 24C (75F)

THURSDAY:
mostly cloudy... foggy at times.  occasional showers and thundershowers likely.
morning low: 19C (66F)
daytime high: 23C (73F)