Thursday 2nd April
The westerly breeze on Wednesday, although moderate in strength, meant a cooler air stream that, combined with limited sunshine, meant the maximum of 12.4C, logged at 12.39, was 1.9C below the early April average. The mainly cloudy day resulted in the UV level back into the ‘Low’ category again with the lowest peak solar for over a week.
Thursday began with very welcome sunshine, that is after the sun rose above a cloud bank on the eastern horizon. By 07.00 the sun began to shine strongly. The day ahead will be fine due to a ridge of high pressure that will see sunshine between variable cloud, however, the breeze, predominantly from the northwest until mid-afternoon, will be cool resulting in a below average maximum again, but it will be dry.
Later today, Thursday, a couple of weather fronts will cross the UK bringing thick cloud that by Friday will produce light rain, likely for most of the morning. This will be due to the approaching low pressure system moving towards Ireland from the Atlantic. The wind will have backed into the southwest heralding a moist but relatively warm airstream that will see the temperature rise close to the early April average of 14.2C. The wind will back into the southwest or south-southwest on Saturday resulting in a cloudy day with the wind increasing in strength as the deep depression arrives over Ireland.
Latest Met Office News flash
Storm Dave named this morning by the Met Office with a warning of ‘disruptive snow’ and strong winds over Easter weekend, particularly in the north of England and Scotland.
March 2026 Review
The very mild weather continued into the first week of March with both maxima and minima well above average. In fact, the peak of 16.8C on the 5th, in very welcome sunshine, was a significant 6C above my long-term average and made it the warmest day since 6th October.
The second week brought light winds and dry conditions with temperatures continuing above average although there was fog after dawn on the 8th and 9th.
Two cold fronts traversed our area during the evening and overnight of the 12th that produced the wettest twenty-four-hour period for a month when 15.4mm was recorded, mostly during a couple of squalls around 23.00 accompanied by gusty winds peaking at 34mph.
The cold fronts were aptly named as they brought a much cooler air stream behind them, originating from near Iceland, that meant a maximum of 7.4C on the 13th was 3.4C below average and made it the coldest day since 19th February. This was followed by a cool night with the first air frost since 14th February when the temperature briefly dropped to -0.5C, being 3.1C below average.
An anticyclone arrived on the 18th that resulted in springlike weather under clear skies and wall to wall sunshine. As a result, the thermometer rose to a peak of 18.7C being, a significant 7.9C above average. Also significant, was the equivalent loss of rainfall due to evaporation from ground sources and plant life, of 2.4mm, the highest since 6th October.
The barometric pressure began to build during the last week of the from a ridge associated with the Azores high. The weather was predominantly dry, a couple of light showers with small hail very briefly observed on the 25th. The wind coming from the north-west on several days was brisk and thus meant maxima were around average for late March.
Indications that the sun was getting stronger, between the variable cloud, was a maximum UV value of 4.2 on the 31st that placed the peak well into the ‘Moderate’ level, which was the strongest since 19th September.
The last day of the month did not turn out as forecast. The cloud did in fact break up resulting in a very warm, pleasant day under a brisk westerly breeze. The maximum of 19.3C was logged at 16.11 being a significant 8.5C above average that made it the warmest day since 6th October.
The mean temperature for March was 1.2C above my long-term average due to several very warm days at the beginning of the month and the last two days. There were only five days when an air frost occurred, mostly minimal, other than a low of -3.2C in the early hours of the 22nd.
It was the warmest March since 2019 with a mean temperature of 7.98C. The extremes were the very cold March of 2013 with a mean of 2.72C, when we experienced 18 mornings with an air frost, the lowest being -6.2C. By contrast we enjoyed the remarkably warm March of 2017 that produced a mean of 8.64C when only one air frost occurred and the temperature, at the end of the month, rose to a maximum of19.4C.
It was a very dry month following the very wet months of January and February. The monthly rainfall total was 32.8mm, being 53% of my 42-year record or 28.7mm below. That is only part of the story as the equivalent loss of rainfall, due to evaporation from ground sources and plant life, amounted to 42.6mm, thus resulting in a monthly deficit of almost 10mm.
The average rainfall over 42 years for the three-month period January to March is 223.5mm, whilst the average for that period in 2026 was 333.1mm.
Fog was observed around dawn on four mornings whilst small hail was observed very briefly at 13.20 on the 25th.