Tuesday, May 5, 2015

even more warming... (am.05.may.15)>

We have clear skies again this morning as the sun begins to rise above the Dhauladhars.  Overnight low temps have been rising steadily (as have the daytime highs) the last several days, and this morning my low here in the upper part of town has been a mild 63.0F (17.2C).  There's been no rainfall to report.

Yesterday was the warmest day of the season and the year, but it looks like we'll be registering another 'warmest of the year' today, and perhaps tomorrow and Thursday as well.  A huge ridge of summertime high pressure continues to build across much of the Indian subcontinent, allowing major heating of the surface layers of the atmosphere to take place.  At least for now, it's also been warming considerably in the mid- and upper-levels, and that has erased the daily instability factor we've dealt with during the afternoons for so long.  But that precarious balance between temperatures in different layers of our air mass can be lost again very quickly -- and that's why we'll have to re-introduce at least the mention of a rogue afternoon thundershower as we move into the latter part of the week.  Otherwise, there should be plenty of sunshine to go around.

Models are showing a significant increase in moisture availability by the weekend, which will add rising humidity to our already above normal temperatures.  That moisture increase will also provide fuel for an even better chance of some scattered showers and thunderstorms as the new week arrives.

THE 7-DAY OUTLOOK on the tab above contains forecast specifics.