Wednesday 18th February
Tuesday was a cold, cloudy and gloomy day that resulted in both the maximum and minimum being below average. The details were a peak of just 6.3C at 13.25 (-2.0C) and a low of 1.8C at 04.35 (-1.5C). The easterly breeze was strong that contributed to the depressed temperatures. However, there was a positive, it was the first dry day this month!

A first look at Wednesday revealed no change other than the temperature had eased upwards a little, to reach 3.4C at 08.00, the reason for that I cannot tell as the cloud cover was thick and continuous all night.

The current conditions are producing a wind chill in that it feels colder on the skin when outside than that indicated on a protected thermometer. The modern wind chill formula, adopted by the National Weather Service in 2001, determines the “feels like” temperatures by calculating the rate of heat loss from exposed skin. It is used for wind speeds greater than 3mph and at a height of 1.5m (face height) to represent human exposure. The “feels like” temperature is especially important on windy days to take into consideration the effect of wind on the evaporation speed of moisture from the skin, the stronger the wind, the faster the cooling of the skin. Besides using data of the speed of the wind, ambient temperature and humidity are also needed to give an accurate figure. At 08.00 this morning, when the temperature read 3.4C, the wind chill meant it felt more like 1.8C outside. The forecast is for the wind to rise as the morning progresses, which will result in a higher wind chill factor.

The barometric pressure has fallen back again after the transitory ridge of high pressure yesterday, down 11mb in twenty-four hours, that has allowed two Atlantic depressions to edge closer to the UK resulting in the low cloud base cover and the air with greater humidity, 88% at 08.00. In fact, weather fronts are threatening to cross the UK that are likely to produce considerable precipitation, likely to be rain as the temperature will have eased a little higher as the morning progresses to around 4C, starting late afternoon. In fact the Met Office late yesterday issued a Yellow Weather Warning for heavy rain for southern England, we are on the northern edge of the suggested impact area.

There is now confidence that the Azores high will begin to push a ridge of high pressure back over the UK, probably starting late Thursday, that will result in a much warmer air stream arriving on Friday and especially over the weekend. The Atlantic air will contain moisture, again having travelled over the surface of the ocean, as a result it is likely to be cloudy with minimal sunshine.

I will continue with images of crocus as they are so colourful during these gloomy days.