Thursday, December 27, 2012

clouds taking over... (am.27.dec.12)>

-Most recent updates will be posted at the top of this page-

*Update @ 3:29pm... Lots of variability between sun and clouds thus far today, with the temperature moving up and down accordingly.  Currently the sun is shining, I have a temp of 53.4F (11.9C), and the humidity stands at 60%.  Satellite pics show more clouds moving in from the west-southwest by evening.

*Update @ 8:40am... Even without sun, the temp has jumped up to 53.2F (11.8C) already this morning.  A stiff breeze has kicked in during the past half hour.  Humidity is just 38% currently, so we're still desperately lacking the moisture necessary for any rain -- at least in the near future.

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We have a thick, high overcast early this morning -- with an overnight low temperature of 46.9F (8.3C) here in the upper part of town.  Humidity has been steady around 42-45% since last evening.

A large upper-level storm system is now moving into Afghanistan, and is expected to move into northern Pakistan by this time tomorrow morning.  It looks like it will nearly come to a stand-still, and remain there through the weekend as it slowly weakens.  Satellite pics this morning show extensive cloudiness from central Asia into the northwest part of India... but there could be a few breaks in the clouds here and there to allow some glimpses of sunshine later today.  If we don't get any sun, temps are going to rise only a few degrees today, despite the relatively mild air mass in place ahead of this storm system.

None of the computer models are forecasting very significant amounts of rain (generally below 1cm/0.40") for our immediate area, but there are some differences in timing between the different models... some targeting late today and Friday for the best chance of precipitation, and others delaying it until mid-day Friday into Saturday evening.  As I mentioned last evening, this is a very difficult system to get a handle on, so we'll have to watch it very carefully as it moves closer.

At this point, at least, it appears that the snow potential should remain higher up in the mountains than our storm of a couple of weeks ago.  Check back here for updates if there are any developments later today, otherwise I'll post a full forecast update this evening.