Thursday, March 20, 2014

the vernal equinox... (am.20.mar.14)>

There are a few traces of very thin cirrus clouds across the area early this morning, otherwise it is mostly clear.  I've recorded a low temp of 48.6F (9.2C) here on Tushita Road below the mountaineering center -- which is exactly the same as yesterday morning's low.  Humidity is 34%, and there has been no precipitation since last report.

The vernal equinox -- better known as the official start of the spring season in the northern hemisphere -- occurs at 10:27pm IST tonight.  Normally we've tasted a lot more truly springtime weather by this time, but this year things have been lagging well behind the usual schedule.  At the moment, there is nothing really terrible on the weather charts, but the general pattern is not all that great, either.  We'll have a west-southwesterly flow in the upper-atmosphere across north India and the rest of the western Himalayan region for the coming several days, embedded with a few weak disturbances.  Warmer air in the lower level will be attempting to push northward, but there will also be occasional pockets of much colder air aloft that will keep things marginally unstable right through the weekend.  Expect sun, occasional clouds, and even the risk of an isolated thundershower (mainly over the mountains) -- with that thundershower risk increasing as we head toward the first part of the new week.

There are indications that we'll be having an extended period of unsettled weather which could take over most of next week.  It's not looking like a well-organized storm system, just a broad area of instability and lurking moisture which could provide us with scattered thundershowers nearly each and every day.  The good news is that temperatures should be fairly pleasant, though still hanging below average for the season.

Check the CURRENT FORECAST tab above for details.