Monday, April 22, 2013

moist air mass... (am.22.apr.13)>

There's a lot of moisture in the air at sunrise this morning -- humidity is 79% and it's partly cloudy with some patchy fog.  I recorded an overnight low temp of 52.7F (11.5C), and the total rainfall since early Sunday morning stands at 1.12" (2.8cm).

The atmosphere is in a major state of flux, as different variables and ingredients keep realigning themselves.  Yesterday morning's big thunderstorm brought a batch of chilly air from the higher levels of the atmosphere down to the surface, but now there is significant warming occurring in the upper-levels, creating a bit of a temperature inversion this morning.  Also, the air mass is much more moist than it was up until late Saturday night.  Throw in the influence and effect of strong late April sunshine assisting the heat build-up down on the plains (not to mention a few upper-level disturbances and the always-present mountain micro-climate issues!), and it makes for lots of factors playing out on the weather stage during the coming several days.

The overall picture points to a regular variation between clouds and sun, along with a fairly good chance of a few scattered showers and thundershowers between today (Mon) and Wednesday.  There is some indication that the rain risk will diminish during the latter half of the week, but those hints are subtle at the moment.  Temperatures should be on the rise throughout the week, as we climb out of yesterday's deficit -- and will most likely wind up on the warm side of late April norms by Friday/Saturday.

The CURRENT FORECAST is located on the tab above.