Tuesday, April 16, 2013

is it over?... (pm.16.apr.13)>

Tuesday's stats:

Low temp: 56.3F (13.5C) -- 4:45pm
High temp: 70.0F (21.1C) -- 11:50am
Rainfall: 0.13" (3mm) -- updated at 8:05pm

The sudden swings between sun, thunder, clouds, showers, and back again today have been dizzying.  It's mostly clear at sunset, as our earlier thundershower activity dissipates and shifts eastward.  The most interesting moment of the day for me occurred around 2pm when I had bright sun, thunder, a briefly heavy rain shower, small hail, and a small rainbow visible from my balcony -- all at the same time.  Definitely an active Tuesday we've had.

A batch of much colder air in the upper-atmosphere has been swinging across northern India during the past 12 hours.  As sun-warmed air at the surface surged northward from the plains, very unstable conditions erupted right on top of us, triggering the frequent spells of thundershowers.  However, apart from some very brief periods of more moderate rain, the precipitation was generally light -- not doing much more than wetting the streets, and not doing a whole lot to get us closer to the 1.9" (4.9cm) we get on average during the month of April.

This system has been progressing faster than expected, so rain chances should be diminishing through the night.  With that colder air aloft, we could see enough instability for a period of thundershowers on Wednesday, but then it's likely we'll see a few days of very dry, generally stable, and warmer conditions during the latter part of the week.  Then, another chance of thundershowers will creep back into the forecast by late Saturday and Sunday with the approach of our next upper-level disturbance.

Check the 5-day outlook on the CURRENT FORECAST tab above.