Saturday gave us another sunny day with the welcome return of strong sunshine amounting to 9.44 hours. There was a light breeze from the north, which made it feel a little chilly out of the sun, but nevertheless the thermometer peaked at 15.8C, which is 2C above the average for April. Overnight the thermometer fell rapidly to a low of 0.2C at 06.16 this morning before glorious sunshine started to raise the temperature to 3.8C at 08.00. There was a sharp ground frost but we just escaped an air frost, which gardeners at this time of the year fear with so much blossom on the fruit trees and tender plants ready for planting out. However, just before 07.30 a fog bank slowly rolled in from the east temporarily obscuring the sun but by 08.00 it had burnt its way through the mist.
Rainfall this month amounts to just 1mm when the 33-year average is 59.7mm, with little rain on the forecast. Winter had a deficit of 99m and March 9mm so there is a large deficit of precipitation over the last five months. This is compounded by the considerable evaporation from ground sources and plant life this month amounting to 53mm.
Warmest morning this month
For the second day running, yesterday gave us no strong sunshine although the slightly warmer air pushed the thermometer to a maximum of 15.2C (+1.3C), the highest for a week. With cloud cover overnight resulting from the week weather front transitting the country, the thermometer did not drop below 9.5C giving us the warmest start to the day this month. As a consequence of the higher day and night time temperatures the soil at a depth of 5cm is the warmest it has been since October 29th at 11.3C. However, with the forecast of a brief cold spell next week, this is likely to drop significantly.
Intermittent sunshine has greeted this morning but no rain in the immediate forecast with just 1mm in total this month so far.
Very dry air & 12 hours of sunshine yesterday
The hours of strong sunshine yesterday amounted to 11.98, a higher total was spoilt by high cloud moving in during the late afternoon. This is the second highest daily sunshine total this month. The temperature did creep just above the average for April with a maximum of 14.4C but fell away during the night to a minimum of 4.4C just before 4am but then recovered to 6.9C at 08.00 as the cloud cover thickened.
The air over the past two days has been very dry with humidity yesterday morning at 74% and a little higher this morning at 81%, due to the approaching weather front, when this month it has been in the mid to high 90’s.
Coolest day & highest solar yesterday, but no rain
Yesterday was a memorable day for several reasons. With a maximum of only 12.2C, due to the brisk north easterly wind peaking at 23mph, it was the coolest day this month. But we enjoyed 11.06 hours of strong sunshine with the highest daily solar power since 16th August 2016. Again there was no precipitation. Overnight thin high cloud meant no frost with a minimum of 4.2C
This morning has dawned glorious with continuous sunshine after daybreak due to the anticyclone close to the UK with the highest barometric pressure, reading of 1036.2mb at 08.00, for three months.
UV level rises again to ‘High’ category
Although cloud moved in during the afternoon yesterday obscuring the sunshine, the morning gave us 1.77 hours of strong sunshine and the UV level at midday reached into the ‘High’ category, the highest since 6th September last year. Again, a day without precipitation, making it fourteen dry days this month. Overnight the thermometer dropped steadily under the clear sky until a minimum of 2.4C was reached at 03.23 this morning, giving a grass frost, after which variable cloud and a slight breeze allowed the thermometer to rise to 5.1C at 08.00.
This morning dawned with cloud drifting in on the north-easterly wind but was soon dispersed as the sun got to work on it. The fresh breeze meant that although the thermometer read 5.2C, there was significant wind chill so that it felt like 2C.
