Tuesday, July 30, 2013

entering active phase... (am.30.jul.13)>

*Update @ 8:47am... Picked up just 0.03" (1mm) during that little episode.  Pathetic!

*Update @ 7:37am... Although the large area of rain and thunder to our west is actually drifting west-southwestward, there is new development taking place on its eastern flank, and that's happening virtually right on top of us.  You've probably heard the thunder increasing in the past half hour or so.  If this development continues, we'll get some action very shortly.

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It's foggy with 100% humidity here on Tushita Road below the Mountaineering Center early this morning.  I measured 0.13" (3mm) of rain overnight, which is still not much to get very excited about.  Due to the full saturation of this air mass, temperatures have moved very little in the past 24 hours or so.  My early morning temp is 69.1F (20.6C).

This morning's satellite pics are showing a large area of rain and thunder just to our west, but the upper-level flow is actually carrying it  more southwestward... away from us.  Anyway, the development of that action shows that the atmosphere is trying hard to release some of this pent-up thermodynamic energy, and it points to the likelihood of further development as we move into the middle of the week.

I've been talking about Tuesday (today) through late Thursday or Friday being the prime target for heavy rain potential, and this morning's data confirms that scenario.  Personally, I've been getting impatient waiting for things to pop, but I know we're probably going to get several inches of rain by the time Friday rolls around.  In fact, even looking further ahead, it appears that we're going to remain in a active phase of the monsoon through the weekend, at least.

The CURRENT FORECAST, along with plenty of other info, is located on tabs at the top of the page.