Saturday, April 27, 2013

clouds trump sun... (pm.27.apr.13)>

Saturday's stats:

Early morning low temp: 59.5F (15.3C)
Afternoon high temp: 71.3F (21.8C)
Rainfall: none

There's a fairly uniform layer of high cloudiness blanketing the area just before sunset this evening, after a day in which the (mainly) high clouds kept the amount of sunshine to a relative minimum.  There were a few periods of sun which allowed temps to top 70F, while humidity hovered consistently around 50% all day.  I never saw a single drop of rain today, nor did I hear a single rumble of thunder -- rather unusual considering the active weather of the past couple of weeks.

It looks potentially rain-free for another 24 hours or so, as the atmosphere remains in a temporarily stable phase, preventing the development of much in the way of shower/thundershower activity.  Instability will build again by tomorrow night into Monday, as a new surge of moisture tries to push in from the south.  This is going to lead to an increasing chance of thunderstorms during the first part of the new week and the transition from April into May.  There are strong indications that much drier and more stable air will finally move in by Thursday -- but that's still a long way off.

Temperatures the last couple of days, though comfortable, are running several degrees below normal for the very end of April.  This air mass still holds the potential to deliver a significant warm-up, but not if clouds and/or bursts of rain prevent the sun from doing its job.  That's causing me to hedge my bets during the coming few days.

The CURRENT FORECAST can be found on the tab at the top of the page.