Friday, September 6, 2013

the usual routine... (am.06.sep.13)>

It's a rather crisp and cool Friday morning, with mostly clear skies just prior to sunrise.  The temperature is hovering very near 60F (15.5C) with a humidity reading of 82%.  There has been no additional rainfall overnight, but thanks to yesterday's mammoth downpour during the early afternoon, the 24 hour total stands at 2.56" (6.5cm).

Just a few weeks ago, the heavier rainfall totals were occurring in areas below McLeod Ganj, but that trend has reversed itself, with generally heavier amounts happening further up the mountain during the past several days.  This is to be expected during the waning period of the monsoon, as the saturation level gradually lifts to a higher elevation.

We'll be starting with sunshine again this morning, but I see nothing to suggest that we won't have a repeat performance of the past several days -- with clouds and fog rapidly developing by the late morning, and then a period or two of rain and thunder during the afternoon hours.  In fact, we should remain in a pattern conducive to the development of scattered showers and thundershowers here along the front slopes of the mountains right through the weekend into early next week.  As we've seen, the sun should be making appearances almost daily as well... which keeps the situation tolerable.

It's a different world to our south-southwest in Punjab and Rajasthan, and even in Delhi and parts of Uttar Pradesh.  They've now had several dry days in a row with no indication of a return of deep tropical moisture to those areas.  Still thinking a monsoon withdrawal declaration for a large part of Rajasthan and perhaps parts of Punjab might be coming soon.

CURRENT FORECAST details can be found on the tab above.