Tuesday, July 29, 2014

robust performance... (pm.29.jul.14)>

Tuesday's stats:

Low temp: 63.5F (17.5C)
High temp: 71.8F (22.1C)
Rainfall since midnight: 5.37" (13.6cm)

It's cloudy.  It's foggy.  It's raining lightly.  And that's the story as we head through the evening.  The rain we've received since late last evening ranks as one of the two largest totals of this monsoon season, with the heaviest of it occurring between roughly 9:30pm last night and about 9:00am this morning.  We've had some redevelopment of thick clouds, fog and some light to moderate rain showers this evening, but there were some brighter periods on and off from mid-day into the early afternoon hours, with some glimpses of sunshine warming our temperatures above 70F for the first time in a few days.

The mega-rain of the past 24 hours was something we've been waiting for, and as often happens, it materialized just when I was on the brink of giving up on it.  There is a complex and ever-changing set of variables that assemble to produce such an extended period of heavy rain, and that combination of moisture, temperature, and directional flow of our air mass throughout the different levels of the atmosphere finally got in sync for us.  We're now not far below the normal/average rainfall for the month of July, and ahead of what I recorded during July 2013.

There are hints of a slight retreat of deeper tropical moisture toward the weekend and maybe into early next week -- otherwise it doesn't look like we're going to get much relief.  Of course we're getting into the very core of the monsoon season, so we shouldn't expect more than perhaps a temporary break in the action now and then.

Check tabs above if you're interested in more specific info...