Saturday, December 28, 2013

sun, clouds, breezy... (am.28.dec.13)>

It is partly cloudy and breezy early on this Saturday morning with a humidity reading of 38%.  It's not as cold as it was this time yesterday morning, as the predawn low temperature was just 41.9F (5.5C) at my location in the upper part of town.

We remain under the influence of an upper-air pattern that is full of little weak disturbances riding across the area.  These small circulations are enough to stir up some patches of cloudiness at times, ignite some periods of gusty winds, and keep temperatures fluctuating with alternating surges of cooler and then slightly milder air.  This pattern will remain in place over the weekend and even into Monday, with little chance of any rain and/or snow.

However, the thing to watch is still the stronger upper-level circulation which continues to spin over extreme northern Afghanistan.  This system will remain nearly stationary until late Monday, when it will begin to shift east-northeastward into Pakistan.  Some moisture will be drawn northward as this occurs, leading to an increasing chance of rain showers for us by Tuesday, along with some snow in the higher elevations.  It still looks like the whole things is going to rapidly disintegrate by Wednesday though, as a ridge of high pressure starts to develop over northern India.  Right now the best chance of precipitation looks to be between very late Monday night and early Wednesday -- but unless there are major changes, we shouldn't see the kind of rain/snow totals that we were blessed with last weekend.  Stay tuned.

CURRENT FORECAST specifics can be found on the tab above.