Category: Commentary

Friday started with a hard frost but gradually the sun got to work and slowly the thermometer reached a peak of 8.3C, some 2C below the average. However, in the light northerly winds it felt a pleasant day in the 6.84 hours of strong sunshine, the third sunniest day this month.

Although the cloud thickened late afternoon and evening the thermometer dropped away to a minimum of 1.6C just before 3.30 this morning but it recovered to 5.7C at 08.00.

This morning there is total cloud cover and just a light breeze.

Thursday brought almost 3 hours of strong sunshine in the morning, boosting the maximum to 12.8C being 2.8C above the 33-year average, before another weather front approached after midday with increasing cloud. Just after 15.30 the rain began to fall, producing 0.7mm of precipitation before fading away by 16.30.

The thermometer began to fall as the sun disappeared then fell rapidly as the sky began to clear, almost 4C drop in one hour mid afternoon. The thermometer fell almost continuously until this morning, under clear skies overnight, reaching a minimum of -2.2C. This was the coldest night since 27th April(-3.0C), just a fraction lower than the minimum of -2.1C on the 6th November.

This morning, not surprisingly due to the clear skies, the day started with hazy sunshine.

Those with a barometer will have noticed that the pressure is very high, reading 1030.1mb at 08.00, the highest reading since the end of October due to a temporary ridge of high pressure.

The heavy cloud and moist air continued on Wednesday although it was not quite so gloomy as on Tuesday; there was a brief brighter period when we enjoyed 6 minutes of strong sunshine!

The milder air, then from a more westerly duration, meant a maximum of 12.4C, being 2.4C above the average and a minimum of 9.0C, which was a considerable 5.3C above the 33-year average and the mildest night for almost a month.

There was no rainfall yesterday and throughout the twenty-four hours very light winds with a maximum gust of just 8mph.

Tuesday:

Solar Energy: lowest since 15th February
Evapotranspiration: lowest since 18th October
UV level: lowest since 15th February
Sunshine: third day this month without strong sunshine.
Global sunshine: zero, the only occasion this month and just once in October

The thick low cloud was responsible for the statistics above, again due to the presence of a transitory weather front. Rainfall totalling 0.7mm fell in a shower just before 2.15pm.

This morning dawned murky with hill fog, restricting visibility to 100m.

The thermometer on Tuesday reached 10.2C, fractionally above the average. Due to the thick blanket of cloud during the night the temperature fell very little to a minimum of 9.4C, which was nearly 6C above the average.

Although the brisk northwesterly winds were abating yesterday, we still felt the effects of the air, which had originated from the Arctic, as the thermometer struggled to reach a maximum of just 6.3C, the coldest day since 12th February.

As the late afternoon progressed the temperature slowly fell away until a minimum of 4.7C reached just after 8.0pm, when there was a rise of about 1C. During the latter half of the night the thermometer picked up to 8.0C at 08.00.

There was a brief light rain shower amounting to 05mm.

This morning is grey and dull with medium cloud and a light breeze from the west.