Windrush Weather

After a bright start to Monday the cloud continued to build as the day progressed, thanks to the next depression just to the west of the UK. The lack os sunshine combined with a very brisk wind from the south-southeast, gusting to 23mph, that limited the rise in temperature gave a high of 16.9C at 12.01, being 0.4C below my 40-year average. The minimum of 11.9C was identical to the previous night, a mild night being 4.8C above the average.

The first rain drops began to fall just before 17.30 and continued throughout the night until 05.20 thanks to a very slow moving weather front that produced 11.8mm of precipitation being the wettest day since 27th April and took the monthly rainfall to a monthly total of 26.8mm being 44% of my 40-year average.

Tuesday arrived dull with continuous cloud and the wind, a little lighter than on Monday and from the southeast.

The depression is just off the west of Cornwall and will be with us for the next couple of days so unsettled weather ahead. The barometric pressure dropped to its lowest for over a month in the early hours with a minimum of 999.1mb, a drop of 30mb since the 8th.

Sunday was the last of the very warm and dry days that saw the thermometer steadily rise to a maximum of 26.1C at 13.49 before broken cloud limited the sunshine. This high was a significant 8.8C above my 40-year average and the warmest day since 9th September.We have now enjoyed six consecutive dry days. The overnight minimum of 11.9C that was logged at 04.04 was 4.9C above average.

Monday revealed a bright start to a new day but a predominantly cloudy sky limited the sunshine. The depression in the western approaches is slowly deepening and approaching the UK, this will increase the cloud cover as the morning progresses and likely produce rain later in the afternoon. The wind will be much stronger today, increasing towards midday, and from the south-southeast.

It was the warmest day in six months on Saturday being the last of the gloriously sunny days and warm days. The thermometer rose to a high of 23.8C at 17.00 being 6.2C above my 40-year average. The cloud built up during the early hours of Sunday so the past night was very mild with the thermometer not sinking below 11.2C, logged at 05.20 early Sunday, which was 4.2C above the average.

Sunday revealed a cloudy start to the new day being thin, high cloud but obscuring the sun.

The recent anticyclone has moved further away and been slowly filling, as a result the advance cloud of the low pressure system developing in the Atlantic has been edging our way. The centre of the depression earlier today was over Iceland, it will drift south then east over the UK in the next twenty-four hours.The barometric pressure has dropped 16mb since the peak on Wednesday. The breeze will veer from the east0southeast this morn to south then south-southwest during the afternoon.

The maximum of 23.6C at 15.40 on Friday made it the warmest day since 9th October and a significant 6.3C above my 40-year average. The UV level again peaked at the High level. Once again the wind was light with a maximum movement of just 11mph but almost calm for long periods and from the southeast.

Saturday dawned with glorious sunshine to start the day pushing the thermometer to 13.7C at 08.00 with the breeze a little stronger today and from the east or east-southeast.

The anticyclone is edging away and beginning to fill with a drop of 8mb here over the last three days as low pressure systems begin to form and edge our way from the Atlantic.

Thursday saw the thermometer rise even higher with a peak of 22.9C at 15.41 under glorious sunshine. This high was 5.3C above my 40-year average. Overnight the temperature dropped away to a minimum of 7.1C at 05.49 before the sun got work, being just 0.1C above the average.

Almost 4mm of equivalent rainfall was lost through evaporation from the ground and plant life on Thursday, the highest since 11th July. The UV value of 6.7 was at the top end of ‘High’ on my scale. The lack of wind was also notable, with minimal air movement all day and a maximum speed of just 9mph was recorded, that fell light overnight.

Friday revealed a hazy start to the day with the sun shining through variable thin cloud initially but another glorious start to a new day.

The extensive high pressure that extends from the UK over Scandinavia and into Russia will be with us for a couple of days so more of the same very welcome warm and sunny days until Sunday. The barometric pressure has eased down 4mb with a reading of 1024.4mb at 08.00