Sunday, December 4, 2016

remaining stable and quiet... (pm.04.dec.16)>

Sunday's stats:

Low temp: 51.6F (10.9C)
High temp: 59.4F (15.2C)
Rainfall: none

It's quite hazy again this evening, as it has been since the mid-afternoon, but the situation is worse downhill from us.  Otherwise we have clear skies as darkness deepens.  Sunshine was plentiful today, apart from the PM haze and just a few patches of high cloudiness at times.  Temperatures have been pretty much steady the last four days, in the very tight range of 59-60ºF/15-16ºC for highs -- with average daily humidity running close to 40% since late last week.

A massive ridge of high pressure is sprawled from the Arabian peninsula all the way into northern India, creating a strong temperature inversion across much of the northern one-third of the Indian subcontinent.  Cooler air is trapped in the surface layers, with significant warming occurring aloft -- that's what creates the hazy and smoggy conditions in elevations mainly below us, across the plains of north India.  I've been expecting us to see our temperatures climb a bit more here at our elevation, but so far that really hasn't happened.  I still think we're heading into a milder zone for a few days as we progress into this new week.  A few mainly high clouds will flirt with the sunshine at times, otherwise we should continue with this dry and stable weather all the way into the weekend.

But then... computer models are still hinting at a period of instability and a drop in temps on Sunday (11th) into Tuesday (13th).  Tonight's data shows less impressive precipitation development over our area than previous runs were indicating, but all of this is still a week away, and the variables haven't really assembled yet.  Stay tuned.