Monday brought us a very sunny morning that was spoilt by the two short but heavy showers around midday. These were from the two rain bands that the rain radar indicated were over mid Wales at 08.00 and heading our way. The first shower was intense at 12.30 and just after it started small hail (less than 5mm in diameter) was observed and the temperature dropped almost 3C within ten minutes from a peak of 12.3C. Before the rain arrived this was the warmest part of the day with the maximum of 12.3C at 12.29 being 3.9C above average with the thermometer around 11C for most of the afternoon. It was also at this time the peak solar radiation was logged at 673 W/m2 being the highest all month and in fact the highest since 7th October, so perhaps Spring is on its way.
The temperature overnight stabilised around 7C until dropping after 03.00 to reach a minimum of 4.5C at 06.58 early Tuesday, as the cloud began to thin, which was 2.7C above average.
Tuesday revealed the thick clouds from the back edge of the recent weather front over the eastern horizon and easing eastwards. The barometric pressure has also risen a few millibars as a short-loved ridge, which will calm things down today bringing minimal rain and calmer conditions. The reading at 08.00 was 1012.6mb. The wind has veered a few degrees, from the southwest yesterday to west-northwest for much of the day, a slightly cooler air flow for much of the day, that will limit the rise in temperature, but mostly dependent on the amount of sunshine we receive.
The forecast pressure charts show an expected rise in pressure over the next few days, spoilt by a minor disturbance around midday tomorrow, that should bring us much more sunshine up to the weekend and calmer conditions. This will be the result of a high pressure system in the Atlantic, developing off the coast of Iberia, and slowly edging our way.