Monday, September 16, 2013

changing fortunes... (pm.16.sep.13)>

Monday's stats:

Low temp: 59.0F (15.0C)
High temp: 68.2F (20.1C)
Rainfall: none

The weather scenario at sunset this evening could not be in more stark contrast to what we were dealing with exactly 24 hours ago.  We have almost 100% clear skies, humidity is near 55%, and there is barely a breeze.  Although we started with sunshine early this morning, things were looking potentially ominous between about 10am and 2pm, as clouds thickened up and a chilly wind started blowing.  As far as I am aware, we never had so much as a drop of rain out of that little interlude -- then the sun busted out in full glory for the remainder of the day.  My humidity reading dipped to 41% at some point today, which is by far the lowest in months.

Coincidentally, according to averages compiled by the India Met Department for each year going back to 1971, 16-17 September is the normal time frame for monsoon withdrawal here in the western part of Himachal Pradesh.  I'm sure we won't see that official withdrawal declaration for several days yet, but the drier air flowing in from central Asia that we've been anticipating for about a week now definitely seems to be for real.

It's wise to keep the mention of a flare-up of afternoon thundershowers along the front slopes of the Dhauladhars for another couple of days or so, otherwise it looks like we'll be seeing more sunshine and lower average daily humidity readings than we've been able to enjoy since the end of May or very early June.  It will be very interesting to see if our mountain thunder machine cooperates with this first taste of a post-monsoon air mass instead of spoiling our fun.

Check the CURRENT FORECAST details and the latest monsoon info on tabs at the top of the page.