Saturday, April 19, 2014

we got hammered... (am.19.apr.14)>

There have been some breaks in the overcast that have let some glimpses of sun shine through early this morning, after a long night of rain, thunder and occasionally gusty winds.  My rain gauge shows a mammoth 2.22" (5.6cm) since 9:20pm, for a total of 2.39" (6.1cm) since steady rain began falling at 7:30pm.  That's about double the amount suggested by computer models, and a staggering amount to receive in just 10 hours during April.  You'll notice that there is fresh snow in the vicinity of Triund and above this morning as well.  And temperatures -- I've recorded a low of 44.8F (7.1C), which is the coldest in my books since the early morning of the 18th of March.

Well, we were braced for a significant period of rain last night, but what we got has certainly gone way over and beyond expectations.  The upper-level disturbance/circulation responsible for all of this is centered over extreme northern Pakistan this morning, with the general wave of energy expected to slowly move across Kashmir during the next 12 hours.  Although the bulk of the moisture available for this system to work with has been pushed off to the east already, we're going to have to keep a lookout for more scattered shower and/or thunderstorm development through this evening.  I highly doubt we'll see nearly as much rain as has already occurred, but be aware that we're not totally out of the woods yet.  It's going to remain unstable enough to keeping us guessing about alternations between sun and clouds as well.

I am very pleased to say that much-improved conditions will arrive just in time for Easter Sunday -- allowing us to salvage a bit of this holiday weekend.  A stretch of quieter, brighter, calmer and warmer weather is on the agenda for much of the coming week, apart from the usual afternoon mountain instability issues.  Barring any unexpected disasters, we'll have the warmest temps of the season...

CURRENT FORECAST details are available on the tab above.