The Arctic air from near Iceland meant a very cool day on Thursday that saw the thermometer struggle to reach 13.8C at 11.59 before cloud began to increase. This maximum was a significant 5.3C below my 40-year average and the coolest day since 3rd May. There were a couple of showers, the heaviest was at 15.00 when light hail fell in the precipitation amounting to 1.9mm. The sky cleared in the evening that saw the thermometer fall steadily downwards, reaching a chilly 1.0C at 06.51 early Friday, producing a ground frost, before the sun got to work. This low was a significant 7.7C below my average making it the coldest night since 25th April.
The rainfall total for September to date is 59.0mm, just 4mm below my 40-year average.
Friday began with glorious sunshine after dawn but following such a cold night the temperature had only recovered to 3.7C by 08.00. The soil temperature at a depth of 5cm had dropped to 6.8C at 08.00, the lowest since 28th April.
The high pressure in the Atlantic has extended over the UK with an increase of 13mb since 08.00 Thursday being the highest pressure since June, the reading at 08.00 was 1029.1mb. This change will cut off the flow of Arctic air and see the airstream direction slowly veer from northwest to west later in the day and tomorrow will come from the southwest, a much warmer direction.
