Author: Eric Gilbert

The easterly breeze persisted all day on Sunday that with only brief glimpses of sunshine in the afternoon limited any rise in temperature. The maximum of 4.4C, logged at 15.10, was 3.9C below the long-term average but there was also a wind chill that meant outside it felt at least 1C colder than that indicated on a thermometer. Although the cloud cover continued overnight the temperature very slowly dropped to freezing (-0.1C) at 21.44 and stayed below freezing overnight with a minimum of -0.9C at 04.41 early Monday being 2.8C below average.

There were signs of a change in our weather on Sunday from the UV readings. The sun is slowly getting stronger, when we see it, with the thinner cloud from around mid-day resulted in a UV reading for more hours, from 11.00 to 16.00, peaking at a value of 0.7 at 15.12. This is still in the ‘low’ category but it is only mid-February.

Monday began with high cloud that allowed weak sunshine to filter through giving a brighter start to the new day, very welcome after a week of gloomy days. The tussle between the high and low pressure systems continues with little variation in barometric pressure, up just 2mb since Sunday, with a reading of 1020.9mb at 08.00. The wind will continue from the east or east-southeast day, that wont do much to raise the temperature of the pool of cool air still over the UK.

The synoptic charts show that changes are afoot with the extensive low pressure system in mid-Atlantic edging closer that will see a little more wind to stir up the atmosphere, dispersing the recent thick, low cloud, with a change in wind direction from Tuesday. As a result we will eventually see temperatures rise towards mid-week.

The thermometer eventually rose above freezing at 09.02.

The drizzle and light rain, the first spots of rain triggered the automatic rain gauge at 08.45, continued intermittently throughout the daylight hours on Saturday with a total precipitation of 3.3mm that took the monthly total to 25.5mm when the long-term average is 68.0mm, so a relatively dry first half for February. The continuous low cloud meant little rise in temperature all day just 1.7C, with a maximum of 5.8C occurring at 15.04, being 3.5C below average. The temperature fell away very slowly overnight with a slight increase after 01.00 as the cloud began to thin dropping to a minimum of 0.7C at 07.35 easy Sunday, which was 1.2C below average. The dull and gloomy conditions triggered the UV light sensor, briefly, with a reading of 0.6 just after 14.00.

Sunday revealed a brighter start to a new day with the cloud much higher and thinner allowing some brightness after sunrise but no sunshine. The wind has backed a few degrees and is now coming from the east or east-southeast so another mainly cool and cloudy day ahead.

The first half of February has, as we know, been cool. Looking at the statistics I find that only three days have produced a maximum above average, namely the 3rd to the 5th. The fifteen overnight minima produced just four nights that were above the long-term average, the early hours of the 2nd also the 5th and most recently the 13th and 14th, but only just.

The barometric pressure chart for the past twenty-four hours has shown a bit of a roller coaster as it has risen then fallen twice and then ended up today at 08.00 exactly as it was on Saturday at that time with a reading of 1019.0mb. The battle between the anticyclone and depression continued. The very large area of low pressure mid-Atlantic threw the cloud and rain over the UK yesterday and is not making much movement against the high pressure that dominated all last week.

On Friday, just after 11.00, there was a little brightness as the cloud thinned and just before 12.00 glorious sunshine broke through intermittently over the next two hours. Such a treat after a week when we suffered under depressing, gloomy conditions. This brief sunshine lifted the thermometer to a maximum of 5.3C at 14.31, being 3.0C below average, before very slowly falling away during the evening. The minimum of 2.7 occurred at 22.39 and held steady for a couple of hours before slowly rising again to reach 4.1C at 08.00 on Saturday.

Sadly, Saturday revealed another gloomy start to a new day as the thick cloud had returned. This was due to the Atlantic low pressure system edging closer and throwing its advance cloud ahead of it. A few spots of rain were observed just before 19.00 on Friday evening and again just before 08.00 on Saturday but not measurable, recorded as a ‘trace’. Light rain began to fall at 08.25 as a wide, variable rain band edges over the area, extending from London to Cornwall. The barometric pressure has fallen almost 6mb to read 1019.0mb at 08.00

The struggle between the two weather systems looks as if it will continue to play out until after the weekend, the high pressure pushing back tomorrow, with continuing cloudy and cool conditions, as the wind is likely to back into the east again on Sunday.

There was no change on Thursday from the recent gloomy conditions under continuous thick, low cloud brought in on the cool easterly breeze. The thermometer struggled to reach a maximum of 3.7C at 13.46, being 4.6C below the long term average, with the strongest gust of 14 mph logged at 00.25 early Friday. The minimum of 1.2C, which was 0.7C below average, was recorded at 19.36 in the early evening of Thursday.

Friday revealed the first early signs of a change in the persistent cloudy and cool conditions. The wind overnight had slowly veered from the east to east-southeast and then southeast, a less cool direction. The cloud is higher but there is still total cover although the visibility has improved without misty conditions.

The humidity level at 08.00 was 76.5%, the lowest since the beginning of December so the air is slowly becoming less moist that would indicate thinner and higher cloud cover today, not sure that would extend to any breaks in the cloud therefore we are not likely to see any sunshine, unless very brief and weak. The solar radiation sensor was woken just before 07.40, not seen so early for over a week.

The radar charts show the very large depression in mid-Atlantic has been making slow prepress towards the UK with rain in the west country late on Thursday. Today, light rain had reached Somerset by 08.00 with heavy rain crossing Cornwall and Devon. The barometric pressure is still, high-up up 1mb since yesterday, as the anticyclone resists the advancing depression so there so no indication of rain here today although the cloud will slowly thicken as the day progresses. The pressure reading at 08.00 was still high at 1023.5mb.

N.B. My new professional weather station showed a gust of wind on Thursday reaching 142mph at 08.15. That was obviously a glitch in the electronics that I cannot delete as in the older station. The technicians are working at producing a solution, mine is not the only complaint. In the good old days I could manually access each item of data using a button to correct my data but not now – is that progress?

The weather on Wednesday proved to be a monotonous repeat of that on Tuesday and Monday under the continuing low, thick cloud that without any solar activity limited the rise in temperature to a maximum of 4.3C at 12.43 being 3.9C below the long-term average. The plus side was very limited air movement that meant no wind chill, as the light breeze hovered in low single figures all day with two identical exciting moments when the anemometer reached the dizzy heights of 11mph at 10.41 on Wednesday and exactly the same at 05.21 early Thursday.

The minimum temperature was logged at 07.42 early Thursday when the thermometer read 2.4C being 0.5C above the average. Once again there was a very low diurnal range of just 1.9C between the maximum and minimum temperatures.

Thursday began where previous days this week left off with total cloud cover being thick and quite low again producing misty conditions. The anemometer is barely turning under very calm conditions.

Today we are still under the pool of cool air beneath the anticyclone, however, the breeze will come from an easterly direction, a slight and significant change from the last seven days. A ridge of high pressure is dominating our weather from the extensive area under the anticyclone but sadly it is still feeding in cloud from the recent depression, now over Denmark, with an element of moisture picked up after it has crossed the cold North Sea.

There is a significant sign of change in the future as a weather front, associated with a low pressure system in the eastern Atlantic, will encroach into the West Country later today. The change here will be slow with hopefully the cloud thinning over the next few days, and after the weekend, it being slightly less cold.