Sunday, March 2, 2014

temporary improvements... (pm.02.mar.14)>

*Update @ 8:10pm... In literally a matter of minutes, the clouds have dissipated and the stars have appeared.  It was cloudy with sprinkles of rain just 20 minutes ago.  I've picked up another 0.07" (2mm) of rain since 6pm.  That should be the end of it. :-/

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Sunday's stats:

Low temp: 37.6F (3.1C)
High temp: 46.4F (8.0C)
Precipitation since 7am: 0.45" (1.1cm)* -- trace amounts of snow/sleet
Total precip since Thursday afternoon: 3.02" (7.7cm)*
*Updated at 8pm

The first day of Tibetan New Year is ending as it began, with cloudy skies and light rain falling.  In between -- roughly from 10:30am to 3:30pm -- we had some fleeting glimpses of sunshine and generally dry conditions.  But even though the sun was nice, it warmed up the surface layers of the atmosphere enough to cause a bit of a conflict with the extremely cold air in the upper-levels.  That led to the development of thundershowers from Srinagar to Shimla, which are just now in the dying stages after sunset.  Today's rainfall amounts were much less than yesterday's, temperatures a bit warmer, and sunshine more plentiful -- but it was still a really unpleasant day for this time of year.  I dare say that the snow pack just above us is the thickest and deepest of this entire winter season.

And the news on the weather front is still not very good, as far as comfort issues are concerned.  We're on the very back side of this system which has been lingering in our area since Thursday -- but there is yet another upper-level disturbance which should make its way across northern India between Monday night and Wednesday.  That leaves us little time for a decent break in the action, and tomorrow (Mon) will be our only chance.  Rain chances should be low after midnight tonight -- continuing until around midnight tomorrow night -- but then the wet weather potential will be on the increase again.  This next system doesn't look as robust as the one ending now, at least according to the latest data.

Temperatures are so far below normal for early March that it's almost laughable, and any warm-up this week will probably not get us back to where we should be this time of year.  Still... there is evidence that we could be in for a significant change in the pattern (for the better) by the end of this week...

CURRENT FORECAST info can be found on the tab above.